jagaagBmar" s=^^=^=^. 


M8 


TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS 


OR 


GENERAL  OUSTER  IN  KANSAS  AND  TEXAS. 


TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS 


OR 


GENERAL  CUSTER  IN  KANSAS  AND  TEXAS 


BY 

ELIZABETH    B.    CUSTER 

AUTHOR  OF  "  BOOTS  AND  SADDLES." 


NEW  YORK 

CHARLES  L.  WEBSTER  &  COMPANY 
1887 


,C 


Copyrighted,  1887, 

CHARLES  L.  WEBSTER  &  CO. 

(All  rights  reserved.) 


PRESS  OP 

JENKINS  &  McCoWAN, 
334-228  Centre  St. 


DEDICATION  TO  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

TO    HIM    WHOSE    BRAVE    AND    BLITHE    ENDURANCE    MADE    THOSE 
WHO    FOLLOWED    HIM     FORGET,    IN     HIS   SUNSHINY     PRES- 
ENCE,   HALF   THE    HARDSHIP    AND    THE    DANGER. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

Biographical  Sketch  of  Major-General  George  A.  Custer.         1-25 

CHAPTER  I. 

Good-by  to  the  Army  of  the  Potomac— Off  for  Texas 
— Twenty  Minutes  for  Dinner — History  of  Eliza — 
Down  the  Mississippi — A  Crevasse — General  Custer 
Meeting  Confederate  General  Hood 27-62 

CHAPTER  II. 

New  Orleans  after  the  War — General  Winfield  Scott — Up 
Red  River— The  Skill  of  the  Pilots— Our  Romantic 
Lover — At  Alexandria — A  Negro  Prayer-Meeting — 
Confederate  Forts— Quicksands— Alligator  Hunting  63-92 

CHAPTER  III. 

Mutiny — Trial  by  Court  Martial — A  Military  Execution 
— Marching  Through  Texas — Foraging  for  a  Bed — 
Joy  over  a  Pillow — Every  Man  has  his  Price — Four 
Months  in  a  Wagon — Life  Without  a  Looking-Glass  93-130 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Marches  Through  Pine  Forests — Officers  Attacked 
with  Break-Bone  Fever — Promises  of  Bold-Flowing 
Streams — Introduction  to  the  Pine-Tree  Rattle-Snake 
— Scorpions,  Tarantulas,  Centipedes,  Chiggers  and 
Seed-ticks— Crossing  the  Ponton—"  I  Went  A- 
Fishing  " I3I-H9 


Viil  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

CHAPTER  V. 

Out  of  the  Wilderness— Our  Camp  at  Hempstead — 
Hospitality  of  Southern  Planters — The  General's 
Deer-Hunting — A  Baptism  of  Gore — Escape  from 
Being  Blown  up  by  Powder— Eliza  Establishes  an 
Orphan  Asylum— The  Protecting  Care  that  Officers 
Show  to  Women 150-178 

CHAPTER  VI. 

A  Texas  Norther — A  School-Girl's  First  Impression  of 
Texas — The  Ants  as  our  Thriving  Neighbors — Gen- 
eral Custer  111  of  Break-Bone  Fever— Measuring  an 
Alligator — The  March  to  Austin — Chasing  Jack-Rab- 
bits— Byron,  the  Greyhound 179-208 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Byron  as  a  Thief — An  Equestrian  Dude — Mexican  Horse 
Equipage  and  Blankets — General  Custer  visits  a  Deaf 
and  Dumb  Asylum — Tales  of  Lawlessness — Pistols 
Everywhere — Entertainments  at  our  Quarters — Eliza's 
Colored  Ball 209-236 

CHAPTER  VIIL 

Letters  Home— Extracts— Caught  by  a  Norther— Longing 
for  a  Yankee  Wood-Pile — Colonel  Groome  of  1812 — 
Jack  Rucker  Beaten  in  a  Horse-Race — Ginnieand  her 
Family — Our  Father  Custer's  Dog 237-259 

CHAPTER  IX. 

Disturbed  Condition  of  Texas — A  Woman's  Horse  Edu- 
cation at  the  Stables — Leaving  Austin  for  Hemp- 
stead—Sam  Houston  a  Hero  among  our  Offi- 
cers— Detention  in  Galveston — A  Texas  Norther  on 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico — Narrow  Escape  from  Ship- 
wreck— Return  Home  on  a  Mississippi  Steamer. ....  260-290 

CHAPTER  X. 

Father  Custer  Gives  an  Account  of  how  he  was  a  Boy  with 
his  Boys  on  the  Mississippi  River — A  Family  Robbery 
— General  Custer  Parts  with  his  Staff  at  Cairo  and 
Detroit — The  Silent  Heroes — Temptations  to  Induce 
General  Custer  to  Resign — Offers  from  Mexico — One 
of  his  Class-mates  Enters  the  Ministry 291-321 


CONTENTS.  ix 

PAGE 

CHAPTER  XL 

Reception  by  the  War  Veterans  of  their  Boy  General — 
Appointed  Lieutenant-Colonel  of  the  Seventh  Cavalry 
—A  Raid  after  a  Pretty  Girl— Our  Family  of  Horses 
and  Dogs — Orders  to  Report  at  Fort  Riley,  Kansas — 
Jollifications  at  St.  Louis — Friendship  for  Lawrence 
Barrett 322-347 

CHAPTER  XII. 

Good-by  to  Civilization— Westward  Ho!— The  Prairie- 
Schooner  as  we  First  Saw  It — A  few  Comments  on 
the  Wisdom  of  the  Army  Mule — The  Wagon-Master 
and  Mule-Whacker  as  Types  of  Western  Eccentricity 
— Carrying  Supplies  to  Distant  Posts — First  Overland 
Journey  in  an  Army  Ambulance — Arrival  at  Fort 
Riley — Border  Warfare  Between  Quarrelsome  Dogs 
— The  Hospitality  of  Officers  and  their  Families— Wel- 
comed and  Housed  by  one  of  General  Custer's  Old 
Friends — Changing  of  Quarters  According  to  Army 
Regulations — Preparing  a  New-Comer  for  his  Call  on 
the  Commanding  Officer's  Family— The  New  Arrival 
Presents  Himself  in  very  Full  Dress — Diana's  Horse 
tells  Tales — General  Custer  Takes  his  Dogs  and  gives 
run  to  his  Horse  over  the  Plains — His  Horses  Com- 
mune with  him  after  their  Dumb  Fashion — The 
Strength  of  his  Arm  Reserved  for  the  Country — 
Separated  from  the  Post  by  the  Prairie  Divides — 
We  Trade  Horses— Phii  Sheridan  Tested  on  a  Race- 
Track — Fighting  Dissipation  in  the  Seventh  Cavalry 
— General  Custer's  Temptations — The  Family  Teach 
him  to  Appreciate  his  Sunburned  Nose — Men  Who 
Command  the  Admiration  of  Women — The  Inde- 
structibility of  an  Army  Demijohn 349-403 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

"Good  Society" — An  Embarrassing  Position  for  an 
Officer— The  General  Extricates  Him— A  Mock  Trial 
— Varieties  of  Character — Lessons  in  Horsemanship — 
A  Disgraced  Cavalry  Woman — Gossip — A  Medley  of 
Officers  and  Men — War  on  a  Dressing-Gown 404-439 


X  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

Ristori,  and  the  Course  of  True  Love — A  Proposal  on  the 
House-top—Gideon's  Band — A  Letter  from  Charles 
C.  Leland — Breitmann  in  Kansas — Clever  Rogues 
Escape  from  the  Guard-House — Marketing  in  Junc- 
tion City — Crossing  a  Swollen  River — The  Story  of 
Johnnie — An  Expedition  Leaves  Fort  Riley  for  a 
Campaign 440-487 

CHAPTER  XV. 

A  Prairie  Fire — Letters  from  the  General— Lending  a 
Dog  for  a  Bedfellow — Beauty's  Bows  and  Beaux — 
Negrc  Recruits  Turn  the  Post  into  a  Circus — Ladies 
Fired  on  by  a  Sentinel — The  Sugar  Mutiny — Small- 
pox in  the  Garrison — General  Gibbs  Restores  Order — 
An  Earthquake  at  Fort  Riley 488-514 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

Extracts  from  General  Custer's  Letters— The  March  from 
Fort  Riley  to  Fort  Harker — Dogs  and  Horses  on  their 
First  Western  Campaign — Experiences  in  Messing  in 
a  Country  Void  of  Supplies — Chasing  Jack-rabbits. .  515-530 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

Extracts  from  Letters  to  General  Custer — Crossing  Fox 
River — Account  of  the  Undisciplined  Troops — War's 
Alarms — Mourning  for  Custis  Lee 531-549 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

Gratitude — A  Great  Snow-Storm — The  Sibley  Tent — 
General  Custer  Defines  his  Ambition — The  Cook 
Devises  Strange  Additions  to  the  Bill  of  Fare — Gen- 
eral Hancock  Holds  a  Council  with  the  Chiefs  of  the 
Cheyennes — The  Indian  Nobility  Request  that  their 
Supper  be  Served  before  the  Talk — The  Pipe  of  Peace 
— A  Hint  for  Further  Refreshments — General  Custer 
Visits  the  Villages  of  Sioux,  Apaches  and  Cheyennes 
— A  Deputation  of  Three  Hundred  Warriors  and 
Chiefs  in  Battle  Line — The  General's  Description  of 
Them — Civilized  and  Barbarous  Warfare  Confronting 
Each  Other — Flight  of  the  Indians — General  Custer 
and  his  Regiment  are  sent  in  Pursuit — Extracts  from 
General  Custer's  Letters  Written  from  Fort  Lamed. .  550-561 


CONTENTS.  XI 

PAGE 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

Extracls  from  General  Ouster's  Letters  from  Fort  Hays 
and  Fort  Wallace — An  Account  of  Killing  his  First 
Buffalo-Calf — The  Death  of  Custis  Lee— Extract  from 
a  Letter  Written  by  General  Hancock  on  the  Indian 
Depredations— Riding  to  Meet  the  Mail— The  Doctor 
Eats  Indian  Soup  in  the  Village — Some  Items  Regard- 
ing a  Match  Buffalo-Hunt 

CHAPTER  XX. 

Sacrifices  and  Self-Denial  of  Pioneer  Duty — Poor  Water 
and  Alkaline  Dust — Vagaries  of  Western  Water- 
Ways — Digging  in  Sunken  Stream-Beds  for  Water 
— Rivers  Unfringed  by  Trees  or  Shrubs — The  Allur- 
ing Mirage — A  Short  Tribute  to  the  Western 
Pioneers — Their  Endurance,  Patience  and  Courage 
— The  Governor  of  a  Western  Territory  Shines  as  a 
Cook  as  well  as  a  Statesman — The  General  Writes  of 
his  First  Buffalo-Hunt — An  Accidental  Discharge  of 
his  Pistol  Kills  my  Horse,  Custis  Lee — General 
Sherman  as  a  Special  Providence — The  Western 
Town  on  a  Move — Government  makes  no  Provision 
for  Army  Women  to  say  their  Prayers — Journey 
to  Fort  Hays — The  Match  Hunt  of  the  Regiment — 
Supper  Given  by  the  Vanquished  to  the  Victors — 
Reception  Given  by  the  Elements  on  our  Arrival — 
The  Tent  Goes  Down — A  Scout  to  Fort  McPherson 
— A  Sentinel  Fires  on  his  Friends  by  Mistake — 
General  Custer  sends  Escort  to  take  us  to  his  Camp 
— Captain  Robbins  and  Colonel  Cook  Attacked,  and 
Fight  for  Three  Hours 584-629 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

Encamped  on  Big  Creek — Preparation  for  Storms — A 
Flood  at  Fort  Hays — Kansas  Lightning — Solicitude 
about  a  Clothes-Line — Women  to  the  Rescue — Men 
Saved  from  Drowning — A  New  Kind  of  Ferry-Boat 
— Catling  Guns  as  Anchors — Ghastly  Lights — Eliza's 
Narrative — Flora  McFlimsey  on  the  Frontier — The 
Retreat  to  a  Prairie  Divide 630-655 


Xll  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

CHAPTER   XXII. 

Ordered  Back  to  Fort  Marker — A  Drunken  Escort — 
Wild-Flowers—Color  without  Odor— Game— Wild 
Horses — A  Dromedary  on  the  Plains — A  Woman 
Pioneering — A  Riddled  Stage — Our  Bed  Running 
Away — Cholera — A  Contrast — Reckoning  Chances  of 
Promotion — The  Addled  Mail-Carrier 656-675 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 

The  First  Fight  of  the  Seventh  Cavalry — Reinforce- 
ments of  Black  Troops — A  Negro's  Manoeuvre — A 
Unique  Official  Report— Peculiar  Fortifications — 
Indian  Attack  on  a  Stage — A  Desperate  Running 
Fight — A  Plucky  Woman— Cholera  at  Fort  Wallace 
— Return  of  the  Seventh  There — Swindling  Contract- 
ors— Desertions — An  Ingenious  Prison — Fort  Wallace 
Attacked— A  Brave  and  Skillful  Sergeant— The 
Worst  Days  of  the  Seventh— No  Letters — General 
Custer's  March  to  Fort  Harker  for  Supplies — A  Day 
at  Fort  Riley — Happiness  at  Last 676-702 


LIST   OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Portrait  of  Major-General  George  A.  Custer Frontispiece. 

Maps  of  Texas  in  1866  and  in  1886 Page  26 

Eliza  Cooking  Under  Fire 43 

Sabre  Used  by  General  Custer  During  the  War 85 

A  Mule  Lunching  From  a  Pillow 123 

General  Custer  as  a  Cadet 1 37 

Our  Bunkies 171 

Measuring  an  Alligator 199 

General  Custer  at  the  Close  ot  the  War  (Aged  25) 265 

"  Stand  There,  Cowards,  will  you,  and  See  an  Old  Man 

Robbed  ?  " 295 

General  Custer  with  his  Horse  "Vic,"  Stag-hounds  and 

Deer-hounds 333 

Maps  of  Kansas  in  1866  and  Kansas  to-day 348 

Conestoga  Wagon,  or  Prairie-schooner 351 

The  Officer's  Dress — A  New-comer  for  a  Call 375 

A  Suspended  Equestrienne 387 

General  Custer  at  His  Desk  in  His  Library 409 

Gun-stand  in  General  Custer's  Library 451 

Trophies  of  the  Chase  in  General  Custer's  Library 467 

Whipping  Horses  to  Keep  them  from  Freezing 497 

"Well,  You  are  a  Warm-blooded  Cuss!" 523 

Smoking  The  Pipe  of  Peace  557 

A  Buffalo  Undecided  as  to  an  Attack  on  General  Custer 567 

A  Buffalo  at  Bay 573 

A  Match  Buffalo  Hunt 607 

Gathering  and  Counting  the  Tongues 61 1 

The  Banquet 613 

The  Addled  Letter-carrier 673 

Negroes  form  their  own  Picket-line 679 

An  Attack  on  a  Stage-coach 683 

xiii 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH 


OF 


MAJOR-GENERAL  GEORGE  A.  CUSTER. 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  MAJOR-GEN- 
ERAL GEORGE  A.  CUSTER. 

/^ENERAL  GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUS- 
TER was  born  in  New  Rumley,  Harrison 
County,  O.,  December  5,  1839.  He  was  tne  e^aest 
of  a  family  of  five  children,  consisting  of  four 
boys  and  one  girl — Thomas,  Nevin,  Boston  and 
Margaret.  There  were  three  sets  of  children  in  the 
family,  as  the  father,  Emanuel  Custer,  was  a  wid- 
ower with  a  son  and  daughter  when  he  married 
Mrs.  Kirkpatrick,  who  also  had  two  sons.  There 
was  such  harmony  and  happiness  among  them 
that  outsiders  knew  no  difference  between  full  or 
half  brothers  and  sisters,  and  they  themselves  al- 
most resented  the  question,  saying  that  it  was  a  sub- 
ject they  never  discussed,  nor  even  thought  about. 
Armstrong,  as  he  was  called  at  home,  became  his 
father's  and  mother's  idol  and  pride  when  he  first 
began  to  talk,  for  he  was  very  bright  and  extremely 
affectionate.  His  father  belonged  to  the  militia  of 
the  county,  and  took  the  boy  out  on  training  days, 
or  whenever  there  happened  to  be  any  military  dis- 
play in  the  town.  Almost  the  first  little  speech 


2  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  GENERAL  CUSTER. 

he  learned  was  a  line  he  picked  up  from  a  decla- 
mation one  of  his  elder  brothers  was  committing 
to  memory  as  a  school  task.  His  father  was 
proud,  as  well  as  surprised,  to  hear  the  little  Arm- 
strong lisp  out  one  day,  waving  his  tiny  arm  in 
the  air,  "  My  voice  is  for  war."  How  soon  this 
love  for  military  life  became  a  settled  purpose  no 
one  knows,  for  the  boy  was  reticent  as  to  his 
future  ;  and  always  tender  and  considerate  of  his 
invalid  mother,  he  would  not  hurt  her  by  talking 
of  leaving  home.  He  only  said,  as  he  followed 
the  plough  on  his  father's  farm,  that  he  would  not 
choose  that  life  for  his  future.  He  loved  books, 
and  when  his  brothers  either  slept  or  played  at 
the  nooning  time,  he  lay  in  the  furrow  and  pored 
over  the  lives  of  distinguished  men  or  tales  of 
travel  and  adventure,  that  the  thoughtful  father 
denied  himself  some  comfort  in  order  to  buy  for 
his  boys. 

General  Ouster, when  asked  once  in  his  home  how 
he  came  to  be  able  to  command  a  brigade  of  cav- 
alry at  the  age  of  twenty-three,  attributed  a  great 
deal  of  the  success  he  had  attained  to  the  lesson 
of  self-control  he  had  learned  in  teaching  school, 
and  said  that  the  duties  of  a  teacher  were  an  ad- 
mirable training  for  a  man  who  afterward  com- 
manded troops.  The  lad  Armstrong  was  deter- 
mined to  obtain  an  education,  and  taught  the 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  GENERAL  CUSTER.  3 

district  school  in  order  to  defray  his  expenses  at 
an  academy  at  Hopedale.  He  afterward  went 
to  Monroe,  Mich.,  to  avail  himself  of  the  ad- 
vantages of  an  excellent  academy  for  boys,  and 
paid  his  way  by  working-  for  his  half-sister,  with 
whom  he  lived.  During  this  time  of  work  and 
study  his  mind  was  fixed  on  entering  the  military 
academy  at  West  Point.  He  consulted  no  one, 
but  on  his  return  to  Ohio  he  framed  such  a  manly, 
earnest  letter  to  the  Member  of  Congress  from  his 
father's  district,  the  Hon.  John  A.  Bingham,  that, 
though  opposed  in  politics,  he  could  not  refuse, 
and  out  of  eleven  applications  departed  from  the 
usual  rule,  and  gave  the  appointment  to  the  son 
of  one  who  was  not  his  constituent. 

The  leaving-taking  at  home  was  the  first  trial 
for  the  boy  Armstrong.  His  choice  of  profession 
was  a  surprise  and  a  great  trial  to  the  devoted 
mother,  but  she  was  a  superior  woman,  and  real- 
ized that  she  had  reared  a  son  whose  life  could 
not  be  circumscribed  by  the  narrow  confines  of 
his  father's  farm.  Cadet  life  was  a  period  of  al- 
most uninterrupted  happiness,  but,  though  quick 
in  mastering  his  tasks,  his  buoyant,  fun-loving 
temperament  kept  Cadet  Custer  very  near  the 
foot  of  the  class.  He  was  wont  to  say,  laugh- 
ingly, in  after  years,  that  it  required  more  skill  to 
graduate  next  to  the  foot,  as  he  did,  than  to  be  at 


4  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  GENERAL  CUSTER. 

the  head  of  the  list ;  as,  to  keep  within  one  of 
going  out,  and  yet  escape  being  dropped,  was  a 
serious  problem. 

He  was  graduated  in  the  June  of  1861,  and  was 
too  eager  for  active  service  to  take  the  usual  leave 
of  absence,  but  reported  for  duty  at  Washington 
at  once.  Having  had  the  privilege  of  choosing 
the  profession  he  liked,  his  enthusiasm  at  the  pros- 
pect of  entering  at  once  into  the  field  had  but  one 
serious  side.  He  was  deeply  attached  to  his 
Southern  classmates  ;  and  those  with  whom  he  had 
parted  with  sadness,  as  one  by  one  they  returned 
to  their  seceding  State,  were  now  to  be  arraigned 
before  him  on  an  opposite  side.  But  though  they 
afterward  fought  one  another  constantly  during 
the  war,  the  attachment  of  cadet  days  was  too 
deep-seated  to  be  disturbed.  After  the  surrender 
at  Appomattox  he  met  and  entertained  at  his 
headquarters  his  Southern  classmates,  while  on  the 
night  of  the  surrender  seven  Confederate  generals, 
whom  he  had  captured,  shared  his  tent  and  slept 
under  the  same  blankets  with  him. 

On  the  20th  of  July,  1861,  Lieutenant  Custer 
reported  for  duty  to  the  adjutant-general  of  the 
army,  and  was  intrusted  with  despatches  from 
General  Scott  to  General  McDowell.  After  deliver- 
ing the  despatches  at  3  o'clock  in  the  morning,  at 
the  headquarters  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  he 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  GENERAL  CUSTER. 


5 


reported  for  duty  to  the  Fifth  Cavalry,  to  which  he 
had  been  assigned.  He  was  wont  to  say,  laughingly, 
that  he  "reached  the  front  just  in  time  to  run  with  all 
the  rest"  after  the  disastrous  day  at  Bull  Run.  His 
comrades  represent  him  as  the  hardest  rider  among 
them.  If  the  regiment  was  relieved,  and  ordered 
to  turn  into  quarters  for  recuperation,  Lieutenant 
Custer,  after  seeing  to  the  feeding  of  his  horse, 
obtained  permission  to  be  absent  from  his  com- 
mand, and  was  off,  as  his  fellow-soldiers  described 
it,  "smelling  out  another  fight."  He  became  lean 
and  haggard,  though  perfectly  well,  and  his  un- 
groomed  horse  was  also  gaunt  from  hard  service. 
On  one  of  these  expeditions  about  the  Army  of 
the  Potomac,  which  stretched  for  miles  over  the 
country,  General  Kearney,  who  was  also  a  hard 
rider  and  an  untiring  soldier,  saw  young  Custer 
and  invited  him  to  become  a  member  of  his  staff. 
Lieutenant  Custer  remained  with  him  until  an 
order  was  issued  relieving  regular  officers  from 
staff  duty  with  volunteer  generals.  In  the  win- 
ter of  1861-62  he  remained  with  his  regiment 
and  served  in  the  defenses  of  Washington, 
engaging  in  the  Manassas  and  Peninsula  cam- 
paigns; and  at  Cedar  Run  he  led  his  squadron  in  a 
charge  against  the  Confederate  pickets,  and  forced 
them  to  retire  across  the  stream.  He  marched 
with  his  regiment  when  the  Army  of  the  Potomac 


6  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  GENERAL  CUSTER. 

changed  its  base  to  the  Peninsula;  and  at  Warwick 
was  selected  as  assistant  to  the  chief  of  engineers 
on  the  staff  of  General  (Baldy)  Smith,  retaining 
that  position  until  the  army  halted  at  the  Chicka- 
hominy  River.  At  the  siege  of  Yorktown  he  was 
engaged  in  the  superintending  of  the  construction 
of  earthworks,  and  was  also  given  the  duty  of 
making  reconnoissances  in  a  balloon,  being  among 
the  first  to  discover  and  report  the  evacuation  of 
the  town.  He  took  part  in  the  battle  of  Williams- 
burg  with  General  Hancock's  brigade,  and  was 
highly  commended  by  that  officer  after  leading^ 
two  regiments  to  an  important  position  near  Fort 
Magruder.  He  commanded  a  company  in  an 
important  skirmish  at  New  Bridge,  near  Cold 
Harbor,  on  May  24,  which  was  the  result  of  a 
reconnoissance  to  secure  information  concerning^ 
the  fords  and  roads  in  that  vicinity  and  to  attack 
the  enemy,  who  were  reported  encamped  near  the 
bridge. 

General  McClellan's  headquarters  were  about 
a  mile  from  the  Chickahominy  River,  and  it  was 
desirous  that  a  safe  crossing  for  the  army  should 
be  discovered.  Lieutenant  Custer,  in  one  of  his 
customary  sallies  by  himself,  in  search  of  any 
portion  of  the  army  that  might  be  having  a 
skirmish,  met  General  Barnard,  of  General  McClel- 
lan's staff,  and  offered  to  try  for  the  ford  for  which 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  GENERAL  CUSTER.  7 

the  chief  engineer  of  the  army  was  looking.  He 
not  only  found  a  safe  and  firm  crossing  to  the 
opposite  bank,  but  concluded,  while  over  there, 
to  make  a  reconnoissance  to  ascertain  what  he 
could  of  the  position  of  the  enemy.  The  Gen- 
eral in  vain  attempted,  by  gestures,  to  deter  him 
from  this  venturesome  deed.  He  reported,  on  his 
return,  that  the  principal  picket  guard  could  be 
captured  by  determined  men. 

General  Barnard  could  not  pass  such  conduct  by 
unnoticed,  and  asked  the  dripping,  muddy  lieuten- 
ant to  his  headquarters.  It  was  in  this  predicament 
he  first  met  General  McClellan,  with  his  brilliant 
staff,  described  then  as  resembling  the  glittering  tail 
of  a  meteor  as  they  rode  behind  their  chief  in  full 
uniform.  Lieutenant  Custer  was  a  sorry  sight.  He 
often  laughed,  in  describing  himself  in  after  years, 
and  drew  a  comical  contrast  between  his  Rozi- 
nante  of  a  horse,  rough,  muddy  and  thin,  his  own 
splashed,  weather-worn  clothes,  and  the  superbly 
equipped  men  who  confronted  him.  After  the  chief 
engineer  had  reported  what  the  young  lieutenant 
had  accomplished,  General  McClellan  rode  up  to 
him,  and  asked  if  he  would  like  to  become  one  of 
his  staff.  He  accepted  the  appointment  at  once, 
and  was  made  aide-de-camp  of  volunteers,  with 
the  rank  of  captain,  to  date  from  June  5,  1862. 
He  immediately  asked  to  be  permitted  to  attack 


8  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  GENERAL  OUSTER. 

the  picket  guard  he  had  discovered  that  day,  and 
at  daylight  next  morning  surprised  the  enemy, 
who  retreated  so  hastily  that  they  left  their  dead 
and  wounded  on  the  field.  He  took  some  prison- 
ers, and  had  also  the  honor  to  take  the  first  colors 
that  were  captured  by  the  Army  of  the  Potomac. 

While  on  the  staff  of  General  McClellan  he  par- 
ticipated in  the  battle  of  Fair  Oaks,  the  seven 
days'  fighting,  including  the  battles  of  Gaines's 
Mill  and  Malvern  Hill,  the  skirmish  in  White  Oak 
Swamp,  and  the  evacuation  of  the  Peninsula. 

After  General  McClellan  was  relieved  from  the 
command  of  the  army,  Captain  Custer  continued 
on  his  personal  staff,  and  later  was  engaged  in 
the  battles  of  South  Mountain  and  Antietam,  and 
the  pursuit  of  the  enemy  to  Warrenton.  At  this 
time  he  was  promoted  in  his  regiment  from  second 
to  first  lieutenant,  to  date  from  July  17,  1862. 
He  took  part  in  the  brilliant  cavalry  engagement 
at  Barbee's  Cross-roads  on  November  5,  as  a 
representative  of  the  headquarters  staff,  and  two 
days  after  he  followed  General  McClellan  into 
retirement.  He  was  devoted  to  General  McClel- 
lan, and  was  grieved  and  keenly  disappointed 
when  his  chief  was  retired  from  active  service. 
The  last  magazine  article  he  ever  wrote,  published 
after  his  death,  spoke  with  enthusiasm,  affection, 
and  faith  undisturbed  after  fourteen  vears.  In 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  GENERAL  CUSTER.  g 

like  manner  General  McClellan  bore  testimony  to 
his  unwavering  friendship  for  his  old  aide-de-camp 
in  "McClellan's  Own  Story,"  published  after  his 
death  by  Webster  &  Co. 

While  Captain  Custer  was  on  waiting  orders  he 
remained  in  his  half-sister's  home,  Monroe,  Mich., 
among  the  schoolmates  and  friends  of  several 
years  before.  As  it  was  winter,  and  no  active 
operations  were  going  on  at  the  front,  he  was  not 
Impatient,  and  the  time  did  not  drag.  It  was  in 
Monroe  that  he  met  his  wife,  the  daughter  of 
Judge  Daniel  S.  Bacon,  and,  but  for  the  Judge's 
opposition  to  military  life  for  his  only  daughter, 
they  would  have  then  been  married.  On  March 
31,  1863,  he  was  discharged  from  volunteer  com- 
mission, and  joined  his  company  at  Capitol  Hill, 
D.  C.,  on  the  3d  of  April,  where  he  served  until 
May  15,  and  was  appointed  aide-de-camp  to  Gen- 
eral Pleasonton,  participated  in  the  closing  opera- 
tions of  the  Rappahannock  campaign,  was  en- 
gaged in  the  action  at  Brandy  Station  ;  and  for 
daring  gallantry  in  the  skirmish  at  Aldie  he  was 
appointed  a  brigadier-general  of  volunteers,  to 
date  from  June  29,  1863,  and  was  assigned  to  the 
Michigan  brigade,  which  he  soon  made  famous. 
The  men  of  his  brigade  adored  him,  and  used  to 
boast  to  their  comrades  in  other  commands,  "  Our 
boy-general  never  says  '  Go  in,  men !'  HE  says,  with 


10         BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  GENERAL  CUSTER. 

that  whoop  and  yell  of  his,  '  Come  on,  boys !'  and 
in  we  go,  you  bet." 

General  Custer  was  then  twenty-three  years  of 
age,  the  youngest  general  in  the  service  ;  his 
golden  hair  fell  .in  curls  on  his  shoulders,  in  obey- 
ance  to  a  boyish  whim  and  a  bet  that  he  would 
not  cut  it  till  the  war  was  ended.  On  his  lip  was 
his  first  downy  mustache,  but  his  keen  eye  marked 
the  determination  and  ability  to  command,  while 
his  valor  was,  as  the  soldiers  said,  of  that  sort  that 
asks  no  man  to  go  where  he  does  not  lead.  He 
joined  the  Third  Cavalry  Division  on  the  2gth  of 
June,  at  Hanover,  Pa.,  and  participated  in  the 
Pennsylvania  campaign,  and  was  engaged  on  the 
ist  of  July  in  a  skirmish  with  the  enemy's  cavalry. 
He  had  a  horse  killed  under  him  on  the  2d  of 
July,  while  leading  a  company  of  the  Sixth  Michi- 
gan Cavalry  in  a  charge  near  Hunterstown.  He 
was  conspicuous  on  the  right  of  the  army  at  the 
battle  of  Gettysburg,  in  conjunction  with  the 
brigades  of  Gregg  and  Mclntosh,  in  defeating 
General  Stuart's  effort  to  turn  that  flank.  He 
moved  on  the  morning  of  the  4th  with  the  Third 
Cavalry  Division  in  pursuit  of  the  enemy,  and 
was  engaged  in  the  skirmishes  at  the  Monterey 
House  and  Hagerstown,  the  actions  at  Williams- 
port  (6th  and  i4th),  Boonesboro',  Funkstown 
and  Falling  Waters,  and  was  made  a  brevet 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  GENERAL  CUSTER.          1 1 

major,  to  date  from  July  3,  1863,  for  gallant  and 
meritorious  services  at  the  battle  of  Gettysburg. 

He  was  then  employed  in  central  Virginia  till 
the  end  of  the  year,  and  was  engaged  in  the 
skirmish  at  King  George  Court  House,  and  in  the 
advance  toward  and  skirmish  at  Culpeper  Court 
House  (September  13),  where  a  piece  of  shell 
wounded  him  on  the  inside  of  the  thigh,  and 
killed  his  horse.  He  was  disabled  for  field  service 
until  the  8th  of  October.  Accepting  twenty  days 
leave  of  absence,  he  went  to  Monroe,  Mich.,  to 
again  petition  Judge  Bacon  for  his  daughter's 
hand.  He  was  met  with  great  cordiality,  offered 
the  sincerest  congratulations,  commended  as  only 
one  self-made  man  can  commend  another,  and  a 
reluctant  consent  given  to  the  engagement  ;  re- 
luctant because  the  Judge  believed  the  military 
profession  too  hazardous  and  uncertain  to  admit 
of  matrimony  in  time  of  war. 

He  returned  to  his  command  in  October,  and 
was  engaged  in  the  action  at  James  City  and 
Brandy  Station  (where  his  determined  action  pre- 
vented the  capture  of  his  brigade),  the  movement 
toward  Centreville,  the  actions  at  Gainesville  and 
Buckland's  Mills,  the  skirmish  at  Stevensburg  and 
the  Mine  Run  operations. 

In  the  February  of  1864  he  went  to  Monroe, 
and  on  the  th  was  married  to  Elizabeth  Bacon, 


12         BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  GENERAL  CUSTEk. 

They  were  recalled  from  the  bridal  tour  by  tele- 
grams urging  the  return  of  the  General  to  the  front, 
in  order  that  he  might  take  command  of  a  portion  of 
the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  which  was  to  be  sent  in 
a  certain  direction  as  a  feint  to  attract  the  Confed- 
erate army,  while  General  Kilpatrick,  with  the 
cavalry  (General  Ouster's  brigade  with  them), 
attempted  to  get  into  Richmond.  Leaving  his 
bride  at  a  farm-house  at  Stevensburg,Va.,  where  his 
headquarters  were  established  almost  in  sight  of 
Confederate  pickets,  he  started  at  once  on  his  arri- 
val, and  made  so  successful  a  feint  that  the  bulk  of 
the  enemy  were  turned  in  pursuit.  Soon  after  his 
return  his  wife  went  to  Washington,  to  remain  as 
near  as  possible  during  the  active  operations  of 
the  summer.  General  Custer  took  part  in  the 
Wilderness  campaign.  In  the  re-organization  of 
the  cavalry — caused  by  the  removal  of  General 
Pleasonton,  the  death  of  General  Buford,  the  trans- 
fer of  General  Kilpatrick  to  the  West  —  he  was 
transferred,  with  the  Michigan  brigade,  to  the 
First  Cavalry  Division,  which  crossed  the  Rapidan 
in  May,  the  main  army  being  toward  Orange 
Court  House.  He  was  engaged  in  the  battles  of 
the  Wilderness  (where  the  cavalry  was  on  the 
left)  and  Todd's  Tavern  ;  in  General  Sheridan's 
•cavalry  raid  toward  Richmond  by  the  way  of 
Beaver  Dam  Station  and  Ashland,  during  which 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  GENERAL  CUSTER.          \  -* 

<j 

his  brigade  had  the  advance,  and  by  a  gallant  dash 
captured  at  Beaver  Dam  Station  three  large  trains, 
which  were  conveying  rations  to  the  Confederate 
army,  destroying  several  miles  of  railroad,  and 
releasing  four  hundred  prisoners,  who  were  en 
route  to  Richmond.  On  the  next  day  he  assisted 
in  the  destruction  of  the  Ashland  Station,  and  on 
the  nth  of  May  the  command  was  within  four 
miles  of  Richmond,  on  the  Brook  pike,  with  his 
brigade  again  in  the  advance ;  and  the  action  of 
Yellow  Tavern  followed,  where  he  won  the  brevet 
of  lieutenant-colonel  for  gallant  and  meritorious 
services.  He  was  engaged  in  the  actions  at 
Meadow  Bridge,  Mechanicsville  and  Hanovertown, 
the  battles  of  Hawes's  Shop  and  Cold  Harbor,  and 
in  General  Sheridan's  second  raid,  during  which 
was  fought  the  battle  of  Trevillian  Station  (where 
his  brigade  was  at  one  time  in  such  great  peril  that 
he  tore  the  colors  from  the  staff  and  concealed 
them  in  the  breast  of  his  coat),  and  in  the  skirmish 
at  Newark.  After  a  brief  rest  near  Petersburg,  his 
brigade  was  transferred  from  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac  to  the  Shenandoah  Valley,  and  arrived 
at  Halltown  about  the  8th  of  August,  and  partici- 
pated, with  the  First  Cavalry  Division,  in  the 
skirmishes  at  Stone  Chapel  and  at  Newtown,  the 
brilliant  action  at  Cedarville,  near  Front  Royal, 
the  combats  at  Kearneysville,  Smithfield,  Berry- 


14         BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  GENERAL  CUSTER. 

ville  and  Opequan  Creek,  the  battles  of  Winchester 
and  Fisher's  Hill  (where  he  rendered  conspicuous 
service),  and  the  actions  at  Cedarville  and  Luray. 
He  was  made  a  brevet  colonel,  to  date  from  Sep- 
tember 19,  1864,  for  gallant  and  meritorious  serv- 
ices at  the  battle  of  Winchester,  and  brevet 
major-general  of  volunteers,  to  date  from  October 
19,  1864,  for  gallant  and  meritorious  services  at 
the  battles  of  Winchester  and  Fisher's  Hill. 

He  was  assigned  on  the  26th  of  September  to 
the  command  of  the  Second  Cavalry  Division, 
which  he  attempted  to  join  at  Piedmont,  but  the 
enemy  appeared  in  force,  and  he  was  compelled  to 
return  to  the  cavalry  headquarters,  where  he 
remained  until  the  3oth,  when  he  was  transferred 
to  the  Third  Cavalry  Division  and  assumed  the 
command  at  Harrisonburg,  and  started  on  the  6th 
of  October  with  the  Army  of  the  Shenandoah,  on 
the  return  march  through  the  valley,  moving  on 
the  road  nearest  the  Blue  Ridge,  and  repulsed  the 
army  that  night  at  Turkeytown.  On  the  next  day 
his  rear  guard  was  frequently  engaged  with  the 
enemy  during  the  march  toward  Columbia  Fur- 
naces, and  the  next  day  they  fought  his  rear  guard 
with  so  much  persistency  that  General  Sheridan 
ordered  his  chief  of  cavalry  to  attack  them,  and 
at  daybreak  on  the  gth  of  October  the  brilliant 
cavalry  action  of  Woodstock  was  begun.  General 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  GENERAL  CUSTER.          15 

Custer,  having  completed  the  formation  for  a 
charge,  rode  to  the  front  of  his  line  and  saluted 
his  former  classmate,  General  Rosser,  who  com- 
manded the  Confederate  cavalry,  and  then  moved 
his  division  at  a  trot,  which  in  a  few  minutes  was 
changed  to  a  gallop,  and  as  the  advancing  line 
iieared  the  enemy  the  charge  was  sounded,  and 
the  next  instant  the  division  enveloped  their  flanks, 
and  forced  them  to  retreat  for  two  miles,  when 
General  Rosser  made  a  brilliant  effort  to  recover 
the  lost  ground ;  but  General  Custer  rapidly 
re-formed  his  brigades,  and  again  advanced  in  a 
second  charge  with  the  other  divisions,  and  drove 
the  enemy  to  Mount  Jackson,  a  distance  of 
twenty-six  miles,  with  the  loss  of  everything  on 
wheels  except  one  gun. 

He  was  conspicuous  at  the  battle  of  Cedar 
Creek,  where  he  confronted  the  enemy  from  the 
first  attack  in  the  morning  until  the  battle 
was  ended.  After  the  first  surprise  he  was 
recalled  from  the  right,  and  ^assigned  to  the 
left,  where  the  enemy  were  held  in  check.  After 
General  Sheridan  appeared  on  the  field,  he  was 
returned  to  the  extreme  right;  and  at  quarter  past 
4  o'clock,  p.  M.,  when  the  grand  advance  was 
made,  leaving  three  regiments  to  attend  to  the 
cavalry  in  his  front,  he  moved  into  position  with 
the  other  regiments  of  his  division  to  participate 


1 6         BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  GENERAL  CUSTER. 

in  the  movement.  The  divisions  of  cavalry, 
sweeping  both  flanks,  crossed  Cedar  Creek  about 
the  same  time,  and,  breaking  the  last  line  the 
enemy  attempted  to  form,  charged  upon  their 
artillery  and  trains,  and  continued  the  pursuit  to 
Fisher's  Hill,  capturing  and  retaking  a  large  num- 
ber of  guns,  colors  and  materials  of  war.  He 
won  in  this  battle  an  enduring  fame  as  a  cavalry 
leader,  and  was  recommended  by  General  Torbert 
for  promotion,  which,  upon  several  occasions,  he 
had  justly  earned.  He  was  sent  to  Washington  at 
the  end  of  the  campaign,  in  charge  of  the  captured 
battle-flags,  and  upon  his  return  to  the  valley,  com- 
manded, in  December,  an  expedition  to  Harrison- 
burg,  and  was  attacked  at  Lacey  Springs  at  day- 
break of  the  2oth  by  a  superior  force,  and  com- 
pelled to  retire  to  Winchester,  where  he  remained 
during  the  winter.  He  was  promoted  to  a  cap- 
taincy in  his  regiment,  May  8,  1864,  and  assigned 
to  duty  on  his  brevet  rank  as  major-general  of 
volunteers. 

He  participated  in  General  Sheridan's  last  cav- 
alry raid  during  the  spring  of  1865,  marching 
from  Winchester  to  Harrisonburg,  and  thence  to 
Waynesboro,  where,  while  in  the  advance,  he 
engaged  and  defeated  the  enemy,  and  captured 
three  guns,  two  hundred  wagons,  sixteen  hundred 
prisoners  and  seventeen  battle  flags. 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  GENERAL  CUSTER.          \  j 

He  was  a  conspicuous  figure  in  the  brilliant 
operations  of  that  dashing  movement  until  the 
command  (First  and  Third  divisions),  having 
crossed  the  Peninsula  and  the  James  River,  en- 
camped on  the  26th  of  March  in  rear  of  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac,  which  was  then  in  front  of 
Petersburg: 

On  the  next  day  the  two  divisions  were  moved 
to  the  rear  of  the  extreme  left,  and  encamped  at 
Hancock's  Station,  where  they  were  joined  by  the 
Second  Division,  and  on  the  2gth  the  entire  cav- 
alry corps  moved  out  to  raid  in  the  rear  of  the 
Army  of  Northern  Virginia,  cut  the  South  Side  Rail- 
road, and  effect  a  junction  with  General  Sherman 
in  North  Carolina ;  but  the  plans  were  changed 
during  the  night,  and  the  cavalry  corps  was  or- 
dered to  turn  the  enemy's  right  flank,  which 
brought  on  the  actions  at  Five  Forks  and  Dinwid- 
die  Court  House,  and  the  next  day  General  Custer 
won  the  brevet  of  brigadier-general,  to  .date  from 
March  13,  1865  (antedated),  for  gallant  and  meri- 
torious services  at  the  battle  of  Five  Forks.  He 
was  engaged  in  the  actions  at  Sailor's  Creek  and 
Appomattox  Station,  received  the  first  flag  of  truce 
from  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia,  and  was 
present  at  the  surrender  at  Appomattox  Court 
House,  April  9,  1865,  and  a  few  days  afterward 
participated  in  the  movement  to  Dan  River,  N.  C., 


1 8         BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  GENERAL  CUSTER. 

which  marks  the  close  of  his  services  during  the 
War  of  the  Rebellion.  He  was  made  a  brevet 
major-general,  to  date  from  March  13,  1865,  for 
gallant  and  meritorious  services  during  the  cam- 
paign ending  with  the  surrender  of  the  Army  of 
Northern  Virginia,  and  was  appointed  a  major- 
general  of  volunteers,  to  date  from  April  15,  1865. 

One  of  his  friends  has  said  :  "  His  perceptive 
faculties,  decision  of  character,  dash  and  audacity 
won  the  favor  of  the  peculiar  Kearney,  the  cau- 
tious McClellan,  the  sarcastic  Pleasonton  and  the 
impetuous  Sheridan ;  and  these  generals,  with 
wholly  different  ideas  and  characters,  trusted  him 
with  unlimited  confidence." 

In  a  general  order  addressed  to  his  troops,  dated 
at  Appomattox  Court  House,  April  9,  1865,  Gen- 
eral Custer  said  :  "  During  the  past  six  months, 
though  in  most  instances  confronted  by  superior 
numbers,  you  have  captured  from  the  enemy  in 
open  battle  1 1 1  pieces  of  field  artillery,  sixty-five 
battle-flags  and  upward  of  ten  thousand  prisoners 
of  war,  including  seven  general  officers.  Within 
the  past  ten  days,  and  included  in  the  above,  you 
have  captured  forty-six  field-pieces  of  artillery  and 
thirty-seven  battle-flags.  You  have  never  lost  a 
gun,  never  lost  a  color,  and  never  been  defeated ; 
and,  notwithstanding  the  numerous  engagements 
in  which  you  have  borne  a  prominent  part,  includ- 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  GENERAL  CUSTER.          IQ 

ing  those  memorable  battles  of  the  Shenandoah, 
you  have  captured  every  piece  of  artillery  which 
the  enemy  has  dared  to  open  upon  you." 

General  Custer  participated  in  all  but  one  of  the 
battles  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  had  eleven 
horses  shot  under  him,  received  bullet-holes  in  his 
hat,  had  a  lock  of  his  hair  cut  off  by  a  passing 
shot,  was  wounded  in  the  thigh  by  a  spent  ball, 
was  crushed  by  the  fall  of  his  wounded  horse 
until  the  buttons  of  his  jacket  were  almost  flat- 
tened, and  at  one  time  charged  into  the  enemy's 
lines,  and  would  have  been  taken  prisoner  except 
that  in  the  melee  he  escaped,  as  he  wore  an  over- 
coat he  had  captured  from  a  Confederate  officer  in 
a  former  engagement.  His  whole  four  years  of 
service  during  the  war  was  a  series  of  narrow 
escapes. 

After  the  first  day's  review  in  Washington,  he 
parted  with  his  beloved  Third  Cavalry  Division, 
and  started  at  once  for  Texas,  where  he  took  com- 
mand of  a  division  of  Western  cavalry,  whose 
term  of  service  had  not  expired,  and  marched 
from  Alexandria,  on  Red  River,  La.,  to  Hempstead, 
in  Texas.  In  the  autumn  he  was  made  chief  of 
cavalry,  and  marched  to  Austin,  where  he  sup- 
ported the  Governor  and  the  new  State  organiza- 
tion in  restoring  order  to  the  demoralized  country. 

In  March,    1866,  he    was  mustered    out   of  the 


2O         BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  GENERAL  CUSTEk. 

volunteer  service,  to  date  from  February,  1866.  A 
proposition  was  made  from  President  Juarez  to 
give  him  command  of  the  Mexican  cavalry  in  the 
struggle  against  Maximilian,  but  President  John- 
son declined  to  give  the  necessary  leave  of 
absence,  and  General  Custer  decided  to  remain  at 
home,  and  accepted  the  lieutenant-colonelcy  of  the 
Seventh  Cavalry,  his  appointment  dating  July  28, 
1866.  He  reported  for  duty  at  Fort  Riley,  Kansas, 
his  regiment's  headquarters,  in  November,  and 
remained  in  Kansas  five  years,  during  which  time 
he  was  on  expeditions  in  pursuit  of  Indians  in  the 
Indian  Territory,  Colorado,  New  Mexico,  Nebraska 
and  Wyoming.  On  the  2;th  of  November,  1868, 
he  fought  the  battle  of  the  Wachita,  in  the  Indian 
Territory,  and  inflicted  such  defeat  on  the  Indians 
that  the  entire  tribe  of  Cheyennes  were  compelled 
to  return  to  their  reservation.  From  1871  to  1873 
he  was  on  duty  with  his  regiment  in  Kentucky. 
In  the  spring  of  1873  he  was  ordered  with  the 
Seventh  Cavalry  to  Dakota,  and  left  Fort  Rice  on 
an  expedition  to  the  Yellowstone.  On  that  river, 
near  the  mouth  of  Tongue  River,  he  fought  the 
Sioux  with  his  regiment  on  August  4,  and  on  the 
i  ith  he  had  another  engagement  three  miles  below 
the  mouth  of  the  Big  Horn.  General  Custer 
solicited  permission  to  conduct  an  expedition  into 
the  Black  Hills,  at  that  time  unvisited  by  the  white 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  GENERAL  CUSTER.          2  I 

man  ;  and  in  July,  1874,  he  left  Fort  Lincoln, 
Dakota,  and  opened  an  unexplored  country  to 
miners  and  settlers.  On  May  15  General  Custer 
left  Fort  Lincoln  in  command  of  his  regiment, 
accompanying  an  expedition  against  the  confeder- 
ated Sioux  tribes.  The  pursuit  of  the  Indians  was 
carried  to  the  Little  Big  Horn  River,  a  region 
almost  entirely  unknown.  It  had  long  been  the 
favorite  spot  for  their  encampments,  and  there 
was  afterward  ascertained  to  be  nine  thousand  in 
their  villages  stretched  along  the  river.  The  Gov- 
ernment expedition  numbered  one  thousand  one 
hundred  men.  As  there  were  no  means  of  ascer- 
taining the  strength  of  the  savages,  General  Custer 
was  sent  with  his  regiment  to  pursue  a  trail.  On 
June  25  he  reached  the  vicinity  of  what  was  sup- 
posed by  friendly  Indian  scouts,  who  accompanied 
the  column,  to  be  the  only  Indian  village.  An 
attack  by  a  portion  of  the  regiment,  two  hundred 
troopers  in  all,  was  made,  and  followed  by  a 
repulse,  ending  in  a  retreat  from  the  enemy. 
General  Custer  with  two  hundred  and  seventy- 
seven  of  his  men  charged  on  another  part  of  the 
village,  and  fought  against  terrible  odds,  expect- 
ing momentarily  to  be  joined  by  the  other  portion 
of  the  regiment,  that  were  then  in  retreat.  At  the 
end  of  an  engagement  that  is  supposed  to  have 
lasted  about  forty-five  minutes,  every  voice  was 


22         BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  GENERAL  CUSTER. 

silenced,  and  General  Custer  lay  among  his 
devoted  followers  (his  brothers,  Colonel  Tom  and 
Boston  Custer  ;  his  brother-in-law,  Lieutenant 
James  Calhoun  ;  his  nephew,  Armstrong-  Reed) 
in  the  "  Bivouac  of  the  Dead." 

He  was  buried  with  his  comrades  on  the  battle- 
field ;  but,  in  accordance  with  a  request  made 
years  previous,  to  his  wife,  he  was  laid  with  mili- 
tary ceremonies  at  West  Point  in  1877.  In  August, 
1879,  his  last  battle-field  was  made  a  National 
cemetery,  and  through  the  interest  of  his  friend, 
Major-General  Meigs,  then  the  quartermaster-gen- 
eral, a  monument  was  erected  by  Government  to 
the  memory  of  General  Custer  and  all  who  fell  in 
the  battle  of  the  Little  Big  Horn.  The  name  of 
each  officer  and  soldier  is  carved  in  the  granite, 
and  its  shaft  does  sentry  duty  over  ground  en- 
riched by  the  precious  blood  of  the  heroes  who 
fell  there  in  the  year  of  the  nation's  Centennial. 

In  personal  appearance  General  Custer  had 
marked  individuality.  It  was  not  due  to  the  fact  that 
his  dress  was  a  costume  he  chose  during  the  war, 
(and  was  followed  in  some  of  its  details  by  his 
Third  Division  of  Cavalry),  or  that  he  assumed  a 
campaigning  garb  of  buckskin  on  the  frontier. 
Neither  was  it  the  result  of  the  flowing  locks  that 
his  boyish  freak  allowed  to  grow  during  the  war, 
and,  though  his  head  was  closely  cropped  in  garri- 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  GENERAL  CUSTER.          23 

son  life  on  the  plains,  he  left  the  hair  uncut  while 
campaigning.  There  was  still  an  individuality 
that  marked  him — walking,  riding,  standing;  ges- 
tures wholly  his  own  ;  quick,  impulsive  move- 
ments, entirely  unstudied  ;  and  indescribable 
peculiarities  that  were  so  marked,  it  was  seldom 
any  one  saw  a  resemblance  in  any  one  else  to 
General  Custer.  A  broad  hat,  navy  blue  shirt 
with  wide  collar,  and  red  neck-tie,  were  distinctive 
features  of  the  costume.  He  was  not  quite  six 
feet,  though  he  looked  it;  broad  shouldered,  well 
proportioned,  and  weighing  as  a  rule  1 70  pounds. 
His  body  was  so  lithe,  his  motions  so  quick,  there 
was  no  deed  of  the  expert  Indian  rider  that 
General  Custer  could  not  execute.  He  was  the 
strongest  man  but  one  while  at  West  Point;  and 
using  neither  liquor  nor  tobacco,  he  was  able  to 
endure  heat,  cold,  privation  of  every  kind,  with 
no  apparent  recognition  of  the  hardships.  His 
hair  and  mustache  were  golden  in  tint;  his  blue 
eyes  were  deep  set  under  eyebrows  that  were 
older  than  his  face.  His  expression  was  thought- 
ful, and  but  for  the  sparkle  of  his  ever  youthful 
eyes,  the  face  might  have  remained  so  in  conver- 
sation. He  was  studious  in  his  tastes.  The 
activity  of  war  life  interrupted  all  such  pursuits, 
but  in  the  quiet  of  the  winters  in  a  frontier 
garrison,  he  resumed  his  study  and  reading. 


24         BIOGRAPHICAL  SKE7CH  OF  GENERAL  CUSTER. 

He  contributed  articles  on  hunting  to  the  news- 
papers devoted  to  out -door  sports,  and  wrote 
papers  for  the  Galaxy  that  were  afterward 
published  in  book  form,  under  the  title  of  "  My 
Life  on  the  Plains."  He  was  engaged  on  a  series 
of  papers  on  the  war,  for  the  Galaxy,  when  his 
last  campaign  took  place.  He  was  an  ardent 
sportsman,  and  accounted  more  than  an  ordinary 
shot.  His  domestic  life,  when  frontier  days  at 
last  gave  him  a  semblance  of  a  home,  during  the 
winter  months,  was  one  of  contentment,  which 
was  rather  surprising,  when  it  is  known  that 
fourteen  years  out  of  the  thirty-seven  of  his  short  life 
were  spent  in  the  active  campaigns  of  the  war 
and  the  frontier.  He  revered  religion,  and  was  so 
broad  that  every  one's  belief  was  sacred  to  him. 
He  dearly  loved  the  society  of  children  when  they 
were  able  to  chatter  with  him;  his  deference  for  the 
aged  was  inborn,  and  intensified  by  his  love  for 
his  aged  parents;  he  honored  womankind;  and  he 
loved  animals  with  such  devotion  that  he  was 
never  without  having  them  about  him  if  he  could 
help  it.  Impetuous  and  daring  as  his  life  was,  he 
declared  that  no  step  was  ever  taken  without  an 
instant  looking  upon  all  sides  of  the  question.  His 
actions,  quick  as  they  were  always,  were  the  result 
of  an  activity  of  brain  that  took  in  a  situation 
with  marvelous  speed.  General  Ouster's  treat- 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  GENERAL  CUSTER.         25 

ment  of  his  enemies  was  more  after  the  manner 
of  a  man  of  mature  years,  but  it  was  the  result 
of  a  discipline  of  self  by  that  impetuous  character, 
who  endeavored  to  remember  that  "  to  forgive 

is  Divine." 

ELIZABETH  B.  CUSTER, 

55  West  Tenth  Street, 

New  York  City. 


Thanks  are  due  Captain  George  F.  Price,  Fifth  United  States 
Cavalry,  for  extracts  containing  dates  and  strictly  military  details, 
from  the  excellent  sketch  of  his  comrade  in  his  book  "Across  the 
Continent  with  the  Fifth  Cavalry."  D.  Van  Nostrand,  Publisher. 

E.  B.  C. 


TEXAS   IN    1866   AND   IN    l886. 
26 


TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 


CHAPTER   I. 

GOOD-BY    TO    THE    ARMY     OF    THE     POTOMAC — OFF    FOR 

TEXAS — TWENTY    MINUTES    FOR    DINNER HISTORY 

OF  ELIZA DOWN    THE    MISSISSIPPI A    CREVASSE 

GENERAL  CUSTER  MEETING  CONFEDERATE    GENERAL 
HOOD. 

/^  ENERAL  CUSTER  was  given  scant  time, 
after  the  last  gun  of  the  war  was  fired,  to 
realize  the  blessings  of  peace.  While  others  has- 
tened to  discard  the  well-worn  uniforms,  and  don 
again  the  dress  of  civilians,  hurrying  to  the  cars, 
and  groaning  over  the  slowness  of  the  fast-flying 
trains  that  bore  them  to  their  homes,  my  husband 
was  almost  breathlessly  preparing  for  a  long  jour- 
ney to  Texas.  He  did  not  even  see  the  last  of 
that  grand  review  of  the  23d  and  24th  of  May, 
1865.  On  the  first  day  he  was  permitted  to  doff 
his  hat  and  bow  low,  as  he  proudly  led  that  superb 
body  of  men,  the  Third  Division  of  Cavalry,  in 


28  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

front  of  the  grand  stand,  where  sat  the  "  powers 
that  be."  Along  the  line  of  the  division,  each  sol- 
dier straightened  himself  in  the  saddle,  and  felt  the 
proud  blood  fill  his  veins,  as  he  realized  that  he 
was  one  of  those  who,  in  six  months,  had  taken  1 1 1 
of  the  enemy's  guns,  sixty-five  battle-flags,  and  up- 
ward of  10,000  prisoners  of  war,  while  they  had 
never  lost  a  flag,  or  failed  to  capture  a  gun  for 
which  they  fought. 

In  the  afternoon  of  that  memorable  day  General 
Custer  and  his  staff  rode  to  the  outskirts  of  Wash- 
ington, where  his  beloved  Third  Cavalry  Division 
had  encamped  after  returning  from  taking  part  in 
the  review.  The  trumpet  was  sounded,  and  the 
call  brought  these  war-worn  veterans  out  once 
more,  not  for  a  charge,  not  for  duty,  but  to  say 
that  word  which  we  who  have  been  compelled  to 
live  in  its  mournful  sound  so  many  years,  dread 
even  to  write.  Down  the  line  rode  their  yellow- 
haired  "  boy  general,"  waving  his  hat,  but  setting 
his  teeth  and  trying  to  hold  with  iron  nerve  the 
quivering  muscles  of  his  speaking  face ;  keeping 
his  eyes  wide  open,  that  the  moisture  dimming 
their  vision  might  not  gather  and  fall.  Cheer  af- 
ter cheer  rose  on  that  soft  spring  air.  Some  enthu- 
siastic voice  started  up  afresh,  before  the  hurrahs 
were  done,  "  A  tiger  for  old  Curley  !  "  Off  came 
the  hats  again,  and  up  went  hundreds  of  arms, 


THE  SOLDIERS^  GOOD-BY. 


29 


waving  the  good-by  and  wafting  innumerable 
blessings  after  the  man  who  was  sending  them 
home  in  a  blaze  of  glory,  with  a  record  of  which 
they  might  boast  around  their  firesides.  I  began  to 
realize,  as  I  watched  this  sad  parting,  the  truth  of 
what  the  General  had  been  telling  me  :  he  held 
that  no  friendship  was  like  that  cemented  by  mu- 
tual danger  on  the  battle-field. 

The  soldiers,  accustomed  to  suppression  through 
strict  military  discipline,  now  vehemently  express- 
ed their  feelings  ;  and  though  it  gladdened  the 
General's  heart,  it  was  still  the  hardest  sort  of 
work  to  endure  it  all  without  show  of  emotion. 
As  he  rode  up  to  where  I  was  waiting,  he  could 
not,  dared  not,  trust  himself  to  speak  to  me.  To 
those  intrepid  men  he  was  indebted  for  his  suc- 
cess. Their  unfailing  trust  in  his  judgment, 
their  willingness  to  follow  where  he  led — ah  !  he 
knew  well  that  one  looks  upon  such  men  but  once 
in  a  lifetime.  Some  of  the  soldiers  called  out  for 
the  General's  wife.  The  staff  urged  me  to  ride 
forward  to  the  troops,  as  it  was  but  a  little  thing 
thus  to  respond  to  their  good-by.  I  tried  to  do  so, 
but  after  a  few  steps,  I  begged  those  beside  whom 
I  rode  to  take  me  back  to  where  we  had  been  stand- 
ing. I  was  too  overcome,  from  having  seen  the 
suffering  on  my  husband's  face,  to  endure  any 
more  sorrow. 


30  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

As  the  officers  gathered  about  the  General  and 
wrung  his  hand  in  parting,  to  my  surprise  the  sol- 
diers gave  me  a  cheer.  Though  very  grateful  for 
the  tribute  to  me  as  their  acknowledged  comrade, 
I  did  not  feel  that  I  deserved  it.  Hardships  such 
as  they  had  suffered  for  a  principle,  require  a  far 
higher  order  of  character  than  the  same  hardships 
endured  when  the  motive  is  affection. 

Once  more  the  General  leaped  into  the  saddle, 
and  we  rode  rapidly  out  of  sight.  How  glad  I 
was,  as  I  watched  the  set  features  of  my  husband's 
face,  saw  his  eyes  fixed  immovably  in  front  of 
him,  listened  in  vain  for  one  word  from  his  over- 
burdened heart,  that  I,  being  a  woman,  need  not 
tax  every  nerve  to  suppress  emotion,  but  could 
let  the  tears  stream  down  my  face,  on  all  our 
silent  way  back  to  the  city. 

Then  began  the  gathering  of  our  "traps,"  a 
hasty  collection  of  a  few  suitable  things  for  a 
Southern  climate,  orders  about  shipping  the 
horses,  a  wild  tearing  around  of  the  improvident, 
thoughtless  staff — good  fighters,  but  poor  pro- 
viders for  themselves.  Most  of  them  were  young 
men,  for  whom  my  husband  had  applied  when  he 
was  made  a  brigadier.  His  first  step  after  his 
promotion  was  to  write  home  for  his  schoolmates, 
or  select  aides  from  his  early  friends  then  in 
service.  It  was  a  comfort,  when  I  found  myself 


ORDERED  TO  TEXAS.  31 

grieving  over  the  parting  with  my  husband's  Divi- 
sion, that  our  military  family  were  to  go  with  us. 
At  dark  we  were  on  the  cars,  with  our  faces  turned 
southward.  To  General  Custer  this  move  had 
been  unexpected.  General  Sheridan  knew  that 
he  needed  little  time  to  decide,  so  he  sent  for  him 
as  soon  as  we  encamped  at  Arlington,  after  our 
march  up  from  Richmond,  and  asked  if  he  would 
like  to  take  command  of  a  division  of  cavalry  on 
the  Red  River  in  Louisiana,  and  march  throughout 
Texas,  with  the  possibility  of  eventually  entering 
Mexico.  Our  Government  was  just  then  thinking 
it  was  high  time  the  French  knew  that  if  there 
was  any  invasion  of  Mexico,  with  an  idea  of  a 
complete  "  gobbling  up  "  of  that  country,  the  one 
to  do  the  seizure,  and  gather  in  the  spoils  was 
Brother  Jonathan.  Very  wisely,  General  Custer 
kept  this  latter  part  of  the  understanding  why  he 
was  sent  South  from  the  "  weepy "  part  of  his 
family.  He  preferred  transportation  by  steamer, 
rather  than  to  be  floated  southward  by  floods  of 
feminine  tears.  All  I  knew  was,  that  Texas,  hav- 
ing been  so  outside  of  the  limit  where  the  armies 
marched  and  fought,  was  unhappily  unaware  that 
the  war  was  over,  and  continued  a  career  of  bush- 
whacking and  lawlessness  that  was  only  tolerated 
from  necessity  before  the  surrender,  and  must 
now  cease.  It  was  considered  expedient  to  fit  out 


32  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

two  detachments  of  cavalry,  and  start  them  on  a 
march  through  the  northern  and  southern  portions 
of  Texas,  as  a  means  of  informing  that  isolated 
State  that  depredations  and  raids  might  come  to 
an  end.  In  my  mind,  Texas  then  seemed  the 
stepping-off  place;  but  I  was  indifferent  to  the 
points  of  the  compass,  so  long  as  I  was  not  left 
behind. 

The  train  in  which  we  set  out  was  crowded 
with  a  joyous,  rollicking,  irrepressible  throng  of 
discharged  officers  and  soldiers,  going  home  to 
make  their  swords  into  ploughshares.  Every- 
body talked  with  everybody,  and  all  spoke  at  once. 
The  Babel  was  unceasing  night  and  day;  there 
was  not  a  vein  that  was  not  bursting  with  joy. 
The  swift  blood  rushed  into  the  heart  and  out 
again  laden  with  one  glad  thought.  "The  war  is 
over ! "  At  the  stations,  soldiers  tumbled  out  and 
rushed  into  some  woman's  waiting  arms,  while 
bands  tooted  excited  welcomes,  no  one  instrument 
according  with  another,  because  of  throats  over- 
charged already  with  bursting  notes  of  patriotism 
that  would  not  be  set  music.  The  customary  train 
of  street  gamins,  who  imitate  all  parades  and 
promptly  copy  the  pomp  of  the  circus  and  other 
processions,  stepped  off  in  a  mimic  march,  follow- 
ing the  conquering  heroes  as  they  were  lost  to 
our  sight  down  the  street,  going  home. 


WELCOMING  WOUNDED  HEROES.  33 

Sometimes  the  voices  of  the  hilarious  crowd  at 
the  station  were  stilled,  and  a  hush  of  reverent 
silence  preceded  the  careful  lifting  from  the  car 
of  a  stretcher  bearing  a  form  broken  and  bleeding 
from  wounds,  willingly  borne,  that  the  home  to 
which  he  was  coming  might  be  unharmed. 
Tender  women  received  and  hovered  lovingly 
over  the  precious  freight,  strong  arms  carried  him 
away ;  and  we  contrasted  the  devoted  care,  the 
love  that  would  teach  new  ways  to  heal,  with  the 
condition  of  the  poor  fellows  we  had  left  in  the 
crowded  Washington  hospitals,  attended  only  by 
strangers.  Some  of  the  broken-to-pieces  soldiers 
were  on  our  train,  so  deftly  mended  that  they 
stumped  their  way  down  the  platform,  and  began 
their  one-legged  tramp  through  life,  amidst  the  loud 
huzzas  that  a  maimed  hero  then  received.  They 
even  joked  about  their  misfortunes.  I  remember 
one  undaunted  fellow,  with  the  fresh  color  of 
buoyant  youth  beginning  again  to  dye  his  cheek, 
even  after  the  amputation  of  a  leg,  which  so 
depletes  the  system.  He  said  some  grave  words 
of  wisdom  to  me  in  such  a  roguish  way,  and  fol- 
lowed up  his  counsel  by  adding,  "  You  ought  to 
heed  such  advice  from  a  man  with  one  foot  in  the 
grave." 

We  missed  all  the  home-coming,  all  the  glorifi- 
cation awarded  to  the  hero.  General  Custer  said 


34  TENTING  CN  THE  PLAINS. 

no  word  of  regret.  He  had  accepted  the  offer  for 
further  active  service,  and  gratefully  thanked  his 
chief  for  giving  him  the  opportunity.  I,  however, 
should  have  liked  to  have  him  get  some  of  the 
celebrations  that  our  country  was  then  showering 
on  its  defenders.  I  missed  the  bonfires,  the  pro- 
cessions, the  public  meeting  of  distinguished  citi- 
zens, who  eloquently  thanked  the  veterans,  the 
editorials  that  lauded  each  townsman's  deed,  the 
poetry  in  the  corner  of  the  newspaper  that  was 
dedicated  to  a  hero,  the  overflow  of  a  woman's 
heart  singing  praise  to  her  military  idol.  But  the 
cannon  were  fired,  the  drums  beat,  the  music 
sounded  for  all  but  us.  Offices  of  trust  were 
offered  at  once  to  men  coming  home  to  private 
life,  and  towns  and  cities  felt  themselves  honored 
because  some  one  of  their  number  had  gone  out 
and  made  himself  so  glorious  a  name  that  his  very 
home  became  celebrated.  He  was  made  the 
mayor,  or  the  Congressman,  and  given  a  home 
which  it  would  have  taken  him  many  years  of 
hard  work  to  earn.  Song,  story  and  history  have 
long  recounted  what  a  hero  is  to  a  woman.  Imagi- 
nation pictured  to  my  eye  troops  of  beautiful 
women  gathering  around  each  gallant  soldier  on 
his  return.  The  adoring  eyes  spoke  admiration, 
while  the  tongue  subtly  wove,  in  many  a  sentence, 
its  meed  of  praise.  The  General  and  his  staff  of 


THE  "LADIES'  CAR"  OF  OTHER  DAYS. 


35 


boys,  loving  and  reverencing  women,  missed  what 
men  wisely  count  the  sweetest  of  adulation.  One 
wreather-beaten  slip  of  a  girl  had  to  do  all  their 
banqueting,  cannonading,  bonfiring,  brass-band- 
ing, and  general  hallelujahs  all  the  way  to  Texas, 
and — yes,  even  after  we  got  there  ;  for  the  South- 
ern women,  true  to  their  idea  of  patriotism,  turned 
their  pretty  faces  away  from  our  handsome  fel- 
lows, and  resisted,  for  a  long  time,  even  the  mildest 
flirtation. 

The  drawing-room  car  was  then  unthought  of 
in  the  minds  of  those  who  plan  new  luxuries,  as 
our  race  demand  more  ease  and  elegance.  There 
was  a  ladies'  car,  to  which  no  men  unaccompanied 
by  women  were  admitted.  It  was  never  so  full  as 
the  other  coaches,  and  was  much  cleaner  and  bet- 
ter ventilated. 

This  was  at  first  a  damper  to  the  enjoyment  of 
a  military  family,  who  lost  no  opportunity  of  being 
together,  for  it  compelled  the  men  to  remain  in 
the  other  cars.  The  scamp  among  us  devised  a 
plan  to  outwit  the  brakemen  ;  he  borrowed  my 
bag  just  before  we  were  obliged  to  change  cars, 
and  after  waiting  till  the  General  and  I  were  safely 
seated,  boldly  walked  up  and  demanded  entrance, 
on  the  plea  that  he  had  a  lady  inside.  This  scheme 
worked  so  well  that  the  others  took  up  the  cue, 
and  my  cloak,  bag,  umbrella,  lunch-basket,  and 


36  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

parcel  of  books  and  papers  were  distributed  among- 
the  rest  before  we  stopped,  and  were  used  to  ob- 
tain entrance  into  the  better  car.  Even  our  faith- 
ful servant,  Eliza,  was  unexpectedly  overwhelmed 
with  urgent  offers  of  assistance;  for  she  always 
went  with  us,  and  sat  by  the  door.  This  plan  was 
a  great  success,  in  so  far  as  it  kept  our  party  to- 
gether, but  it  proved  disastrous  to  me,  as  the 
scamp  forgot  my  bag  at  some  station,  and  I  was 
minus  all  those  hundred  and  one  articles  that  seem 
indispensable  to  a  traveler's  comfort.  In  that  plight 
I  had  to  journey  until,  in  some  merciful  detention,, 
we  had  an  hour  in  which  to  seek  out  a  shop,  and 
hastily  make  the  necessary  purchases. 

At  one  of  our  stops  for  dinner  we  all  made  the 
usual  rush  for  the  dining-hall,  as  in  the  confusion 
of  over-laden  trains  at  that  excited  time  it  was 
necessary  to  hurry,  and,  besides,  as  there  were  de- 
lays and  irregularities  in  traveling,  on  account  of 
the  home-coming  of  the  troops,  we  never  knew 
how  long  it  might  be  before  the  next  eating-house 
was  reached.  The  General  insisted  upon  Eliza's 
going  right  with  us,  as  no  other  table  was  provided. 
The  proprietor,  already  rendered  indifferent  to 
people's  comfort  by  his  extraordinary  gains,  said 
there  was  no  table  for  servants.  Eliza,  the  best- 
bred  of  maids,  begged  to  go  back  dinnerless  into 
the  car,  but  the  General  insisted  on  her  sitting- 


TWENTY  MINUTES  FORA  DISTURBED  DINNER. 


37 


down  between  us  at  the  crowded  table.  A  posi- 
tion so  unusual,  and  to  her  so  totally  out  of  place, 
made  her  appetite  waver,  and  it  vanished  entirely 
when  the  proprietor  came,  and  told  the  General 
that  no  colored  folks  could  be  allowed  at  his  table. 
My  husband  quietly  replied  that  he  had  been  ob- 
liged to  give  the  woman  that  place,  as  the  house 
had  provided  no  other.  The  determined  man  still 
stood  threateningly  over  us,  demanding  her  remov- 
al, and  Eliza  uneasily  and  nervously  tried  to  go. 
I  trembled,  and  the  fork  failed  to  carry  the  food, 
owing  to  a  very  wobbly  arm.  The  General  firmly 
refused,  the  staff  rose  about  us,  and  all  along  the 
table  up  sprang  men  we  had  supposed  to  be  citi- 
zens, as  they  were  in  the  dress  of  civilians. 
•"  General,  stand  your  ground;  we'll  back  you;  the 
woman  shall  have  food."  How  little  we  realize  in 
these  piping  times  of  peace,  how  great  a  flame  a 
little  fire  kindled  in  those  agitating  days.  The 
proprietor  slunk  back  to  his  desk;  the  General  and 
his  hungry  staff  went  on  eating  as  calmly  as  ever ; 
Eliza  hung  her  embarrassed  head,  and  her  mistress 
idly  twirled  her  useless  fork — while  the  proprietor 
made  $1.50  clear  gain  on  two  women  that  were  too 
frightened  to  swallow  a  mouthful.  I  spread  a  sand- 
wich for  Eliza,  while  the  General,  mindful  of  the 
returning  hunger  of  the  terrified  woman,  and  per- 
fectly indifferent  as  to  making  himself  ridiculous 


38  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

with  parcels,  marched  by  the  infuriated  but  subdued 
bully,  with  either  a  whole  pie  or  some  such  modest 
capture  in  his  hand.  We  had  put  some  hours  of 
travel  between  ourselves  and  the  "  twenty-minutes- 
for-dinner "  place  which  came  so  near  being  a 
battle-ground,  before  Eliza  could  eat  what  we 
had  brought  for  her. 

I  wonder  if  any  one  is  waiting  for  me  to  say 
that  this  incident  happened  south  of  the  Mason 
and  Dixon  line.  It  did  not.  It  was  in  Ohio ;  I 
don't  remember  the  place.  After  all,  the  memory 
over  which  one  complains,  when  he  finds  how 
little  he  can  recall,  has  its  advantages.  It  hope- 
lessly buries  the  names  of  persons  and  places, 
when  one  starts  to  tell  tales  out  of  school.  It  is 
like  extracting  the  fangs  from  a  rattlesnake  ;  the 
reptile,  like  the  story,  may  be  very  disagreeable, 
but  I  can  only  hope  that  a  tale  unadorned  with 
names  or  places  is  as  harmless  as  a  snake  writh  its 
poison  withdrawn. 

I  must  stop  a  moment  and  give  our  Eliza,  OR 
whom  this  battle  was  waged,  a  little  space  in  this 
story,  for  she  occupied  no  small  part  in  the  events 
of  the  six  years  after  ;  and  when  she  left  us  and 
took  an  upward  step  in  life  by  marrying  a  colored 
lawyer,  I  could  not  reconcile  myself  to  the  loss  ; 
and  though  she  has  lived  through  all  the  grandeur 
of  a  union  with  a  man  "  who  gets  a  heap  of 


ELIZAS  BRONZE  TINT. 


39 


money  for  his  speeches  in  politics,  and  brass  bands 
to  meet  him  at  the  stations,  Miss  Libbie,"  she  came 
to  my  little  home  not  long  since  with  tears  of  joy 
illuminating  the  bright  bronze  of  her  expressive 
face.  It  reminded  me  so  of  the  first  time  I  knew 
that  the  negro  race  regarded  shades  of  color  as  a 
distinctive  feature,  a  beauty  or  a  blemish,  as  it 
might  be.  Eliza  stood  in  front  of  a  bronze 
medallion  of  my  husband  when  it  was  first  sent 
from  the  artist's  in  1865,  and  amused  him  hugely, 
by  saying,  in  that  partnership  manner  she  had  in 
our  affairs,  "  Why,  Ginnel,  it's  jest  my  color." 
After  that,  I  noticed  that  she  referred  to  her  race 
according  to  the  deepness  of  tint,  telling  me,  with 
scorn,  of  one  of  her  numerous  suitors  :  "  Why,  Miss 
Libbie,  he  needent  think  to  shine  up  to  me  ;  he's 
nothing  but  a  black  African."  I  am  thus  intro- 
ducing Eliza,  color  and  all,  that  she  may  not  seem 
the  vague  character  of  other  days  ;  and  whoever 
chances  to  meet  her  will  find  in  her  a  good  war 
historian,  a  modest  chronicler  of  a  really  self- 
denying  and  courageous  life.  It  was  rather  a 
surprise  to  me  that  she  was  not  an  old  woman 
when  I  saw  her  again  this  autumn,  after  so  many 
years,  but  she  is  not  yet  fifty.  I  imagine  she  did 
so  much  mothering  in  those  days  when  she  com- 
forted me  in  my  loneliness,  and  quieted  me  in 
my  frights,  that  I  counted  her  old  even  then. 


40  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

Eliza  requests  that  she  be  permitted  to  make 
her  little  bow  to  the  reader,  and  repeat  a  wish  of 
hers  that  I  take  great  pains  in  quoting  her,  and 
not  represent  her  as  saying,  "  like  field-hands, 
whar  and  thar"  She  says  her  people  in  Virginia, 
whom  she  reverences  and  loves,  always  taught 
her  not  to  say  "them  words;  and  if  they  should 
see  what  I  have  told  you  they'd  feel  bad  to  think 
I  forgot."  If  whar  and  thar  appear  occasion- 
ally in  my  efforts  to  transfer  her  literally  to  these 
pages,  it  is  only  a  lapsus  lingua  on  her  part. 
Besides,  she  has  lived  North  so  long  now,  there 
is  not  that  distinctive  dialect  peculiar  to  the 
Southern  servant.  In  her  excitement,  narrating 
our  scenes  of  danger  or  pleasure  or  merriment, 
she  occasionally  drops  into  expressions  that 
belonged  to  her  early  life.  It  is  the  fault  of  her 
historian  if  these  phrases  get  into  print.  To  me 
they  are  charming,  for  they  are  Eliza  in  undress 
uniform — Eliza  without  her  company  manners. 

She  describes  her  leaving  the  old  plantation  dur- 
ing war  times.  "  I  jined  the  Ginnel  at  Amosville, 
Rappahannock  County,  in  August,  1863.  Every- 
body was  excited  over  freedom,  and  I  wanted  to 
see  how  it  was.  Everybody  keeps  asking  me  why 
I  left.  I  can't  see  why  they  can't  recollect  what 
war  was  for,  and  that  we  was  all  bound  to  try 
and  see  for  ourselves  how  it  was.  After  the 


A  CONTRABAND  AS  COOK.  41 

'Mancipation,  everybody  was  a  standin'  up  for 
liberty,  and  I  wasent  goin'  to  stay  home  when 
everybody  else  was  a-goin'.  The  day  I  came, 
into  camp,  there  was  a  good  many  other  darkies 
from  all  about  our  place.  We  was  a  standin' 
round  waitin'  when  I  first  seed  the  Ginnel. 

"  He  and  Captain  Lyon  cum  up  to  me,  and  the 
Ginnel  says,  '  Well,  what's  your  name  ! '  I  told 
him  Eliza  ;  and  he  says,  looking  me  all  over  fust, 
'  Well,  Eliza,  would  you  like  to  cum  and  live  with 
me  ? '  I  waited  a  minute,  Miss  Libbie.  I  looked 
him  all  over,  too,  and  finally  I  sez,  'I  reckon  I 
would.'  So  the  bargain  was  fixed  up.  But,  oh, 
how  awful  lonesome  I  was  at  fust,  and  I  was 
afraid  of  everything  in  the  shape  of  war.  I  used 
to  wish  myself  back  on  the  old  plantation  with 
my  mother.  I  was  mighty  glad  when  you  cum, 
Miss  Libbie.  Why,  sometimes  I  never  sot  eyes 
on  a  woman  for  weeks  at  a  time." 

Eliza's  story  of  her  war  life  is  too  long  for  these 
pages ;  but  in  spite  of  her  confession  of  being  so 
"  'fraid,"  she  was  a  marvel  of  courage.  She  was  cap- 
tured by  the  enemy,  escaped,  and  found  her  way 
back  after  sunset  to  the  General's  camp.  She  had 
strange  and  narrow  escapes.  She  says,  quaintly: 
"  Well,  Miss  Libbie,  I  set  in  to  see  the  war,  begin- 
ning and  end.  There  was  many  niggers  that  cut 
into  the  cities  and  huddled  up  thar,  and  laid  around 


42  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

and  saw  hard  times  ;  but  I  went  to  see  the  endr 
and  I  stuck  it  out.  I  allus  thought  this,  that  I 
didn't  set  down  to  wait  to  have  'em  all  free  me. 
I  helped  to  free  myself.  I  was  all  ready  to  step  to 
the  front  whenever  I  was  called  upon,  even  if  I 
didn't  shoulder  the  musket.  Well,  I  went  to  the 
end,  and  there's  many  folks  says  that  a  woman 
can't  follow  the  army  without  throwing  themselves 
away,  but  I  know  better.  I  went  in,  and  I  cum  out 
with  the  respect  of  the  men  and  the  officers." 

Eliza  often  cooked  under  fire,  and  only  lately 
one  of  the  General's  staff,  recounting  war  days,  de- 
scribed her  as  she  was  preparing  the  General's  din- 
ner in  the  field.  A  shell  would  burst  near  her;  she 
would  turn  her  head  in  anger  at  being  disturbed, 
unconscious  that  she  was  observed,  begin  to  growl 
to  herself  about  being  obliged  to  move,  but  take 
up  her  kettle  and  frying-pan,  march  farther  away, 
make  a  new  fire,  and  begin  cooking  as  unper- 
turbed as  if  it  were  an  ordinary  disturbance  in- 
stead of  a  sky  filled  with  bits  of  falling  shell.  I 
do  not  repeat  that  polite  fiction  of  having  been  on 
the  spot,  as  neither  the  artist  nor  I  had  Eliza's  grit 
or  pluck ;  but  we  arranged  the  camp-kettle,  and 
Eliza  fell  into  the  exact  expression,  as  she  volubly 
began  telling  the  tale  of  "  how  mad  those  busting 
shells  used  to  make  her."  It  is  an  excellent  like- 
ness, even  though  Eliza  objects  to  the  bandanna, 


ELIZA   COOKING  UNDER   FIRE. 


44  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

which  she  has  abandoned  in  her  new  position  ; 
and  I  must  not  forget  that  I  found  her  one  day 
turning  her  head  critically  from  side  to  side  look- 
ing at  her  picture ;  and,  out  of  regard  to  her,  will 
mention  that  her  nose,  of  which  she  is  very  proud, 
is,  she  fears,  a  touch  too  flat  in  the  sketch.  She 
speaks  of  her  dress  as  "  completely  whittled  out 
with  bullets,"  but  she  would  like  me  to  mention 
that  "  she  don't  wear  them  rags  now." 

When  Eliza  reached  New  York  this  past 
autumn,  she  told  me,  when  I  asked  her  to  choose 
where  she  would  go,  as  my  time  was  to  be  entirely 
given  to  her,  that  she  wanted  first  to  go  to  the 
Fifth  Avenue  Hotel  and  see  if  it  looked  just  the 
same  as  it  did  "  when  you  was  a  bride,  Miss 
Libbie,  and  the  Ginnel  took  you  and  me  there  on 
leave  of.  absence."  We  went  through  the  halls 
and  drawing-rooms,  narrowly  watched  by  the 
major-domo,  who  stands  guard  over  tramps,  but 
fortified  by  my  voice,  she  "oh'd"  and  "ah'd" 
over  its  grandeur  to  her  heart's  content.  One  day 
I  left  her  in  Madison  Square,  to  go  on  a  business 
errand,  and  cautioned  her  not  to  stray  away. 
When  I  returned,  I  asked  anxiously,  "Did  any 
one  speak  to  you,  Eliza  ?"  "  JSforybody,  Miss 
Libbie,"  as  nonchalant  and  as  complacent  as  if  it 
were  her  idea  of  New  York  hospitality.  Then  she 
begged  me  to  go  round  the  Square,  "to  hunt  a 


ELIZA'S  DELIGHT  OVER  THE  CITY. 


45 


lady  from  Avenue  A,  who  see'd  you  pass  with 
me,  Miss  Libbie,  and  said  she  knowed  you  was  a 
lady,  though  I  reckon  she  couldn't  'count  for  me 
and  you  bein'  together."  We  found  the  Avenue 
A  lady,  and  I  was  presented,  and  to  her  satisfac- 
tion admired  the  baby  that  had  been  brought  over 
to  that  blessed  breathing-place  of  our  city. 
F  The  Elevated  railroad  was  a  surprise  to  Eliza. 
She  "  didn't  believe  it  would  be  so  high."  At  that 
celebrated  curve  on  the  Sixth  Avenue  line,  where 
Monsieur  de  Lesseps  even  exclaimed,  "  Mon  Dieu ! 
but  the  Americans  are  a  brave  people,"  the  poor 
frightened  woman  clung  to  me  and  whispered, 
"  Miss  Libbie,  couldn't  we  get  down  any  way  ? 
Miss  Libbie,  I'se  seed  enough.  I  can  tell  the  folks  at 
home  all  about  it  now.  Oh,  I  never  did  'spect  to 
be  so  near  heaven  till  I  went  up  for  good." 

At  the  Brooklyn  Bridge  she  demurred.  She  is 
so  intelligent  that  I  wanted  to  have  her  see  the 
shipping,  the  wharves,  the  harbor,  and  the  Statue 
of  Liberty;  but  nothing  kept  her  from  flight  save 
her  desire  to  tell  her  townspeople  that  she  had 
seen  the  place  where  the  crank  jumped  off.  The 
policeman,  in  answer  to  my  inquiry,  commanded 
us  in  martial  tones  to  stay  still  till  he  said  the  word  ; 
and  when  the  wagon  crossing  passed  the  spot,  and 
the  maintainer  of  the  peace  said  "  Now ! "  Eliza 
shivered,  and  whispered,  "Now,  let's  go  home,  Miss 


46  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

Libbie.  I  dun  took  the  cullud  part  of  the  town  fo' 
I  come ;  the  white  folks  hain't  seen  what  I  has, 
and  they'll  be  took  when  I  tell  'em  ; "  and  off  she 
toddled,  for  Eliza  is  not  the  slender  woman  I  once 
knew  her. 

Her  description  of  the  Wild  West  exhibition  was 
most  droll.  I  sent  her  down  because  we  had  lived 
through  so  many  of  the  scenes  depicted,  and  I  felt 
sure  that  nothing"  would  recall  so  vividly  the  life  on 
the  frontier  as  that  most  realistic  and  faithful  rep- 
resentation of  a  western  life  that  has  ceased  to  be, 
with  advancing  civilization.  She  went  to  Mr. 
Cody's  tent  after  the  exhibition,  to  present  my 
card  of  introduction,  for  he  had  served  as  General 
Ouster's  scout  after  Eliza  left  us,  and  she  was, 
therefore,  unknown  to  him  except  by  hearsay. 
They  had  twenty  subjects  in  common ;  for  Eliza, 
in  her  way,  was  as  deserving  of  praise  as  was  the 
courageous  Cody.  She  was  delighted  with  all 
she  saw,  and  on  her  return,  her  description  of  it, 
mingled  with  imitations  of  the  voices  of  the  haw- 
kers and  the  performers,  was  so  incoherent  that  it 
presented  only  a  confused  jumble  to  my  ears.  The 
buffalo  were  a  surprise,  a  wonderful  revival  to  her 
of  those  hunting-days  when  our  plains  were  dark- 
ened by  the  herds.  "When  the  buffalo  cum  in,  I 
was  ready  to  leap  up  and  holler,  Miss  Libbie ; 
it  'minded  me  of  ole  times.  They  made  me 


A  VISIT  TO  THE  "  WILD  WEST."  47 

think  of  the  fifteen  the  Ginnel  fust  struck  in  Kansas. 
He  jest  pushed  down  his  ole  hat,  and  and  went 
after  'em  linkety-clink.  Well,  Miss  Libbie,  when 
Mr.  Cody  come  up,  I  see  at  once  his  back  and  hips 
was  built  precisely  like  the  Ginnel,  and  when  I 
come  on  to  his  tent,  I  jest  said  to  him  :  '  Mr.  Buf- 
falo Bill,  when  you  cum  up  to  the  stand  and 
wheeled  round,  I  said  to  myself,  "  Well,  if  he  ain't 
the  'spress  image  of  Ginnel  Custer  in  battle,  I  never 
seed  any  one  that  was."  I  jest  wish  he'd  come  to 
my  town  and  give  a  show !  He  could  have  the 
hull  fair-ground  there.  My!  he  could  raise  money 
so  fast  t' wouldn't  take  him  long  to  pay  for  a  church. 
And  the  shootin'  and  ridin' !  why,  Miss  Libbie, 
when  I  seed  one  of  them  ponies  brought  out,  I 
know'd  he  was  one  of  the  hatefullest,  sulkiest  ponies 
that  ever  lived.  He  was  a-prancin'  and  curvin', 
and  he  just  stretched  his  ole  neck  and  throwed  the 
men  as  fast  as  ever  they  got  on." 

After  we  had  strolled  through  the  streets  for 
many  days,  Eliza  always  amusing  me  by  her  droll 
comments,  she  said  to  me  one  day:  "Miss  Libbie, 
you  don't  take  notice,  when  me  and  you's  walking 
on  a-lookin'  into  shop-windows,  and  a-gazin'  at 
the  new  things  I  never  see  before,  how  the  folks 
does  stare  at  us.  But  I  see  'em  a-gazin',  and 
I  can  see  'em  a-ponderin'  and  sayin'  to  theirsel's, 
'Well,  I  do  declar'!  that's  a  lady,  there  ain't  no 


48  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

manner  of  doubt.  She's  one  of  the  bong  tong ; 
but  whatever  she's  a-doin'  with  that  old  scrub 
nigger,  I  can't  make  out.' '  I  can  hardly  express 
what  a  recreation  and  delight  it  was  to  go  about 
with  this  humorous  woman  and  listen  to  her  com- 
ments, her  unique  criticisms,  her  grateful  delight, 
when  she  turned  on  the  street  to  say:  "Oh,  what 
a  good  time  me  and  you  is  having,  Miss  Libbie, 
and  how  I  will  'stonish  them  people  at  home ! "" 
The  best  of  it  all  was  the  manner  in  which  she 
brought  back  our  past,  and  the  hundred  small  events 
we  recalled,  which  were  made  more  vivid  by  the 
imitation  of  voice,  walk,  gesture,  she  gave  in 
speaking  of  those  we  followed  in  the  old  march- 
ing days. 

On  this  journey  to  Texas  some  accident  hap- 
pened to  our  engine,  and  detained  us  all  night.  We 
campaigners,  accustomed  to  all  sorts  of  unexpected 
inconveniences,  had  learned  not  to  mind  discom- 
forts. Each  officer  sank  out  of  sight  into  his 
great-coat  collar,  and  slept  on  by  the  hour,  while  I 
slumbered  till  morning,  curled  up  in  a  heap,  thank- 
ful to  have  the  luxury  of  one  seat  to  myself.  We 
rather  gloried  over  the  citizens  who  tramped  up 
and  down  the  aisle,  groaning  and  becoming  more 
emphatic  in  their  language  as  the  night  advanced, 
indulging  in  the  belief  that  the  women  were  too- 
sound  asleep  to  hear  them.  I  wakened  enough  to» 


A  SUBTERFUGE  TO  OBTAIN  COMFORT. 


49 


hear  one  old  man  say,  fretfully,  and  with  many  ad- 
jectives :  "Just  see  how  those  army  folks  sleep; 
they  can  tumble  down  anywhere,  while  I  am  so 
lame  and  sore,  from  the  cramped-up  place  I  am  in, 
I  can't  even  doze."  As  morning  came  we  noticed 
our  scamp  at  the  other  end  of  the  car,  with  his  legs 
stretched  comfortably  on  the  seat  turned  over  in 
front  of  him.  All  this  unusual  luxury  he  accounted 
for  afterward,  by  telling  us  the  trick  that  his  inge- 
nuity had  suggested  to  obtain  more  room.  "  You 
see,"  the  wag  said,  "two  old  codgers  sat  down  in 
front  of  my  pal  and  me,  late  last  night,  and  went 
on  counting  up  their  gains  in  the  rise  of  corn,  owing 
to  the  war,  which,  to  say  the  least,  was  harrowing 
to  us  poor  devils  who  had  fought  the  battles  that 
had  made  them  rich  and  left  us  without  a  '  red.' 
I  concluded,  if  that  was  all  they  had  done  for  their 
country,  two  of  its  brave  defenders  had  more  of  a 
right  to  the  seat  than  they  had.  I  just  turned 

to  H and  began  solemnly  to  talk  about  what 

store  I  set  by  my  old  army  coat,  then  on  the  seat 
they  occupied  ;  said  I  couldn't  give  it  up,  though  I 
had  been  obliged  to  cover  a  comrade  who  had  died 
of  small-pox,  I  not  being  afraid  of  contagion,  having 
had  varioloid.  Well,  I  got  that  far  when  the  eyes 
of  the  old  galoots  started  out  of  their  heads,  and 
they  vamoosed  the  ranche,  I  can  tell  you,  and  I 
saw  them  peering  through  the  window  at  the  end 


pjO  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

of  the  next  car,  the  horror  still  in  their  faces."  The 
General  exploded  with  merriment.  How  strange 
it  seems,  to  contrast  those  noisy,  boisterous  times, 
when  everybody  shouted  with  laughter,  called 
loudly  from  one  end  of  the  car  to  the  other,  told 
stories  for  the  whole  public  to  hear,  and  sang  war- 
songs,  with  the  quiet,  orderly  travelers  of  nowa- 
days, who,  even  in  the  tremor  of  meeting  or  part- 
ing, speak  below  their  breath,  and,  ashamed  of 
emotion,  quickly  wink  back  to  its  source  the  pre- 
historic tear. 

We  bade  good-by  to  railroads  at  Louisville,  and 
the  journeying  south  was  then  made  by  steamer. 
How  peculiar  it  seemed  to  us,  accustomed  as  we 
were  to  lake  craft  with  deep  hulls,  to  see  for  the 
first  time  those  flat-bottomed  boats  drawing  so  lit- 
tle water,  with  several  stories,  and  upper  decks 
loaded  with  freight.  I  could  hardly  rid  myself  of 
the  fear  that,  being  so  top-heavy,  we  would  blow- 
over.  The  tempests  of  our  western  lakes  wrere 
then  my  only  idea  of  sailing  weather.  Then  the 
long,  sloping  levees,  the  preparations  for  the  rise 
of  water,  the  strange  sensation,  when  the  river  was 
high,  of  looking  over  the  embankment,  down 
upon  the  earth  !  It  is  a  novel  feeling  to  be  for  the 
first  time  on  a  great  river,  with  such  a  current  as 
the  Mississippi  flowing  on  above  the  level  of  the 
plantations,  hemmed  in  by  an  embankment  on 


"BUR  YING  A  DEAD  MAN. "  51 

either  side.  Though  we  saw  the  manner  of  its 
construction  at  one  point  where  the  levee  was  be- 
ing repaired,  and  found  how  firmly  and  substan- 
tially the  earth  was  fortified  with  stone  and  logs 
against  the  river,  it  still  seemed  to  me  an  un- 
natural sort  of  voyaging  to  be  above  the  level  of 
the  ground  ;  and  my  tremors  on  the  subject,  and 
other  novel  experiences,  were  instantly  made  use 
of  as  a  new  and  fruitful  source  of  practical  jokes. 
For  instance,  the  steamer  bumped  into  the  shore 
anywhere  it  happened  to  be  wooded,  and  an  army 
of  negroes  appeared,  running  over  the  gang-plank 
like  ants.  Sometimes  at  night  the  pine  torches, 
and  the  resinous  knots  burning  in  iron  baskets 
slung  over  the  side  of  the  boat,  made  a  weird  and 
gruesome  sight,  the  shadows  were  so  black,  the 
streams  of  light  so  intense,  while  the  hurrying 
negroes  loaded  on  the  wood,  under  the  brutal  voice 
of  a  steamer's  mate.  Once  a  negro  fell  in.  They 
made  a  pretense  of  rescuing  him,  gave  it  up  soon, 
and  up  hurried  our  scamp  to  the  upper  deck  to 
tell  me  the  horrible  tale.  He  had  good  command 
of  language,  and  allowed  no  scruples  to  spoil  a 
story  After  that  I  imagined,  at  every  night 
wood-lading,  some  poor  soul  was  swept  down 
under  the  boat  and  off  into  eternity.  The  General 
was  sorry  for  me,  and  sometimes,  when  I  imagined 
the  calls  of  the  crew  to  be  the  despairing  wail  of  a 


5  2  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

dying  man,  he  made  pilgrimages,  for  my  sake,  to 
the   lower   deck   to   make  sure  that  no  one  was 
drowned.     My  imaginings  were  not  always  so  re- 
spected, for  the  occasion  gave  too  good  an  oppor- 
tunity for  a  joke,  to  be   passed  quietly  by.     The 
scamp  and  my  husband  put  their  heads  together 
soon  after  this,  and  prepared  a  tale  for  the  "  old 
lady,"  as  they  called  me.     As  we  were  about  to 
make  a  landing,  they  ran  to  me  and  said,  "  Come, 
Libbie,   hurry  up  !  hurry  up  !     You'll  miss  the  fun 
if  you  don't  scrabble."     "  Miss   what  ?"  was    my 
very  natural  question,  and  exactly  the  reply  they 
wanted  me   to  make.     "Why,    they're  going  to 
bury  a  dead  man  when  we  land."     I  exclaimed  in 
horror,  "  Another  man   drowned  ?    how  can  you 
speak  so  irreverently  of  death  ?"     With  a  "  do  you 
suppose  the  mate  cares  for   one  nigger  more  or 
less  ?"  they  dragged  me  to  the  deck.     There  I  saw 
the  great  cable  which  was  used  to  tie  us  up,  fast- 
ened to  a  strong  spar,  the  two  ends  of  which  were 
buried  in  the  bank.     The  ground  was  hollowed 
out  underneath  the  centre,  and  the  rope  slipped 
under  to  fasten  it  around  the  log.      After 'I  had 
watched  this  process  of  securing  our  boat  to  the 
shore,  these    irrepressibles  said,  solemnly,    "  The 
sad  ceremony  is  now  ended,  and  no  other  will  take 
place  till  we  tie  up  at  the  next  stop."     When  it 
dawned  upon  me  that   "  tying  up  "  was  called,  in 


A  MISSISSIPPI  STEAMER. 


53 


steamer  vernacular,  "  burying  a  dead  man,"  my 
eyes  returned  to  their  proper  place  in  the  sockets, 
breath  came  back,  and  indignation  filled  my  soul. 
Language  deserts  us  at  such  moments,  and  I  re- 
sorted to  force.  As  there  was  no  one  near,  a  few 
well-deserved  thumps  were  rained  down  on  the 
yellow  head  of  the  commanding  officer,  who  bore 
this  merited  punishment  quite  meekly,  only  sug- 
gesting that  the  next  time  the  avenger  felt  called 
upon  to  administer  such  telling  whacks,  it  might 
be  done  with  the  hand  on  which  there  were  no 
rings. 

The  Ruth  was  accounted  one  of  the  largest  and 
most  beautiful  steamers  that  had  ever  been  on  the 
Mississippi  River,  her  expenses  being  $i,oooaday. 
The  decorations  were  sumptuous,  and  we  enjoyed 
every  luxury.  We  ate  our  dinners  to  very  good 
music,  which  the  boat  furnished.  We  had  been  on 
plain  fare  too  long  not  to  watch  with  eagerness 
the  arrival  of  the  procession  of  white-coated  negro 
waiters,  who  each  day  came  in  from  the  pastry- 
cook with  some  new  device  in  cake,  ices,  or  con- 
fectionery. There  was  a  beautiful  Ruth  gleaning 
in  a  field,  in  the  painting  that  filled  the  semicircle 
over  the  entrance  of  the  cabin.  Ruths  with 
sheaves  held  up  the  branches  of  the  chandeliers, 
while  the  pretty  gleaner  looked  out  from  the  glass 
of  the  stateroom  doors.  The  captain  being  very 


54  TENTING  ON  7'HE  PLAINS. 

patient  as  well  as  polite,  we  pervaded  every  cor- 
ner of  the  great  boat.  The  General  and  his  boy- 
soldiers  were  too  accustomed  to  activity  to  be 
quiet  in  the  cabin.  Even  that  unapproachable 
man  at  the  wheel  yielded  to  our  longing  eyes,  and 
let  us  into  his  round  tower.  Oh,  how  good  he  was 
to  me !  The  General  took  me  up  there,  and  the 
pilot  made  a  place  for  us,  where,  with  my  bit  of 
work,  I  listened  for  hours  to  his  stories.  My  hus- 
band made  fifty  trips  up  and  down,  sometimes  de- 
tained when  we  were  nearingan  interesting  point, 
to  hear  the  story  of  the  crevasse.  Such  tales  were 
thrilling  enough  even  for  him,  accustomed  as  he 
then  was  to  the  most  exciting  scenes.  The  pilot 
pointed  out  places  where  the  river,  wild  with  the 
rush  and  fury  of  spring  freshets,  had  burst  its  way 
through  the  levees,  and,  sweeping  over  a  penin- 
sula, returned  to  the  channel  beyond,  utterly  an- 
nihilating and  sinking  out  of  sight  forever  the 
ground  where  happy  people  had  lived  on  their 
plantations.  It  was  a  sad  time  to  take  that  jour- 
ney, and  even  in  the  midst  of  our  intense  enjoy- 
ment of  the  novelty  of  the  trip,  the  freedom  from 
anxiety,  and  the  absence  of  responsibility  of  any 
kind,  I  recall  how  the  General  grieved  over  the 
destruction  of  plantations  by  the  breaks  in  the 
levee.  The  work  on  these  embankments  was  done 
by  assessment,  I  think.  They  were  cared  for  as 


,  BREAKING  OF  A  LEVEE.  55 

our  roads  and  bridges  are  kept  in  order,  and  when 
men  were  absent  in  the  war,  only  the  negroes  were 
left  to  attend  to  the  repairing.  But  the  inunda- 
tions then  were  slight,  compared  with  many  from 
which  the  State  has  since  suffered.  In  1874  thirty 
parishes  were  either  wholly  or  partly  overflowed 
by  an  extraordinary  rise  in  the  river.  On  our  trip 
we  saw  one  plantation  after  another  submerged, 
the  grand  old  houses  abandoned,  and  standing  in 
lakes  of  water,  while  the  negro  quarters  and  barns 
were  almost  out  of  sight.  Sometimes  the  cattle 
huddled  on  a  little  rise  of  ground,  helpless  and 
pitiful.  We  wished,  as  we  used  to  do  in  that 
beautiful  Shenandoah  Valley,  that  if  wars  must 
come,  the  devastation  of  homes  might  be  avoided. 
And  I  usually  added,  with  one  of  the  totally  im- 
practicable suggestions  conjured  up  by  a  woman, 
that  battles  might  be  fought  in  desert  places. 

A  Southern  woman  who  afterward  entertained 
us,  described,  in  the  graphic  and  varied  language 
which  is  their  gift,  the  breaking  of  the  levee  on 
their  own  plantation.  How  stealthily  the  small 
stream  of  water  crept  on  and  on,  until  their  first 
warning  was  its  serpent-like  progress  past  their 
house.  Then  the  excitement  and  rush  of  all  the 
household  to  the  crevasse,  the  hasty  gathering  in 
of  the  field -hands,  and  the  homely  devices  for 
stopping  the  break  until  more  substantial  materials 


5  6  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

could  be  gathered.  It  was  a  race  for  life  on  all 
sides.  Each  one,  old  or  young,  knew  that  his 
safety  depended  on  the  superhuman  effort  of  the 
first  hour  of  danger.  In  our  safe  homes  we  scarcely 
realize  what  it  would  be  to  look  out  from  our  win- 
dows upon,  what  seemed  to  me,  a  small  and  insuf- 
ficient mound  of  earth  stretching  along  the  front- 
age of  an  estate,  and  know  that  it  was  our  only 
rampart  against  a  rushing  flood,  which  seemed 
human  in  its  revengeful  desire  to  engulf  us. 

The  General  was  intensely  interested  in  those 
portions  of  the  country  where  both  naval  and  land 
warfare  had  been  carried  on.  At  Island  No.  10 
and  Fort  Pillow  especially,  there  seemed,  even  then, 
no  evidence  that  fighting  had  gone  on  so  lately. 
The  luxuriant  vegetation  of  the  South  had  covered 
the  fortifications ;  nature  seemed  hastening  to 
throw  a  mantle  over  soil  that  had  so  lately  been 
reddened  with  such  a  precious  dye.  The  fighting 
had  been  so  desperate  at  'the  latter  point,  it  is 
reported  the  Confederate  General  Forrest  said  : 
"  The  river  was  dyed  with  the  blood  of  the 
slaughtered  for  two  hundred  yards." 

At  one  of  our  stops  on  the  route,  the  Confederate 
General  Hood  came  on  board,  to  go  to  a  town  a 
short  distance  below,  and  my  husband,  hearing  he 
was  on  the  boat,  hastened'  to  seek  him  out  and  in- 
troduce himself.  Such  reunions  have  now  become 


A  FEDERAL  AMD  CONFEDERA  TE  GENERAL  MEET. 


57 


common,  I  am  thankful  to  say,  but  I  confess  to 
watching  curiously  every  expression  of  those  men, 
as  it  seemed  very  early,  in  those  times  of  excited 
and  vehement  conduct,  to  begin  such  overtures. 
And  yet  I  did  not  forget  that  my  husband  sent 
messages  of  friendship  to  his  classmates  on  the 
other  side,  throughout  the  war.  As  I  watched  this 
meeting,  they  looked,  while  they  grasped  each 
other's  hand,  as  if  they  were  old-time  friends 
happily  united.  After  they  had  carried  on  an  ani- 
mated conversation  for  a  while,  my  husband, 
always  thinking  how  to  share  his  enjoyment,  hur- 
ried to  bring  me  into  the  group.  General  Custer 
had  already  taught  me,  even  in  those  bitter  times, 
that  he  knew  his  classmates  fought  from  their  con- 
victions of  right,  and  that,  now  the  war  was  over, 
I  must  not  be  adding  fuel  to  a  fire  that  both  sides 
should  strive  to  smother. 

General  Hood  was  tall,  fair,  dignified  and  sol- 
dierly. He  used  his  crutch  with  difficulty,  and  it 
was  an  effort  for  him  to  rise  when  I  was  presented. 
We  three  instantly  resumed  the  war-talk  that  my 
coming  had  interrupted.  The  men  plied  each 
other  with  questions  as  to  the  situation  of  troops  at 
certain  engagements,  and  the  General  fairly  bom- 
barded General  Hood  with  inquiries  about  the 
action  on  their  side  in  different  campaigns.  At 
that  time  nothing  had  been  written  for  Northern 


58  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

papers  and  magazines  by  the  South.  All  we  knew 
was  from  the  brief  accounts  in  the  Southern  news- 
papers that  our  pickets  exchanged,  and  from  papers 
captured  or  received  from  Europe  by  way  of 
blockade-runners.  We  were  greatly  amused  by 
the  comical  manner  in  which  General  Hood  de- 
scribed his  efforts  to  suit  himself  to  an  artificial  leg, 
after  he  had  contributed  his  own  to  his  beloved 
cause.  In  his  campaigns  he  was  obliged  to  carry 
an  extra  one,  in  case  of  accident  to  the  one  he 
wore,  which  was  strapped  to  his  led  horse.  He 
asked  me  to  picture  the  surprise  of  the  troops  who 
captured  all  the  reserve  horses  at  one  time,  and 
found  this  false  leg  of  his  suspended  from  the 
saddle.  He  said  he  had  tried  five,  at  different 
times,  to  see  which  of  the  inventions  was.lightest 
and  easiest  to  wear;  "  and  I  am  obliged  to  confess, 
Mrs.  Custer,  much  as  you  may  imagine  it  goes 
against  me  to  do  so,  that  of  the  five — English, 
German,  French,  Yankee  and  Confederate — the 
Yankee  leg  was  the  best  of  all."  When  General 
Custer  carefully  helped  the  maimed  hero  down 
the  cabin  stairs  and  over  the  gangway,  we  bade 
him  good-by  with  real  regret — so  quickly  do  sol- 
diers make  and  cement  a  friendship  when  both 
find  the  same  qualities  to  admire  in  each  othet. 

The  novelty  of  Mississippi  travel  kept  even  our 
active,   restless   party   interested.      One    of    our 


CROSSING  SAND  BARS. 


59 


number  played  guitar  accompaniments,  and  we 
sang  choruses  on  deck  at  night,  forgetting  that  the 
war-songs  might  grate  on  the  ears  of  some  of  the 
people  about  us.  The  captain  and  steamer's  crew 
allowed  us  to  roam  up  and  down  the  boat  at  will, 
and  when  we  found,  by  the  map  or  crew,  that  we 
were  about  to  touch  the  bank  in  a  hitherto  un- 
visited  State,  we  were  the  first  to  run  over  the 
gang-plank  and  caper  up  and  down  the  soil,  to  add 
a  new  State  to  our  fast-swelling  list  of  those  in 
which  we  had  been.  We  rather  wondered,  though, 
what  we  would  do  if  asked  questions  by  our 
elders  at  home  as  to  what  we  thought  of  Arkansas, 
Mississippi  and  Tennessee,  as  we  had  only  scam- 
pered on  and  off  the  river-bank  of  those  States 
while  the  wooding  went  on.  We  were  like  chil- 
dren let  out  of  school,  and  everything  interested  us. 
Even  the  low  water  was  an  event.  The  sudden 
stop  of  our  great  steamer,  which,  large  as  it  was, 
drew  but  a  few  feet  of  water,  made  the  timbers 
groan  and  the  machinery  creak.  Then  we  took 
ourselves  to  the  bow,  where  the  captain,  mate  and 
deck-hands  were  preparing  for  a  siege,  as  the  force 
of  the  engines  had  ploughed  us  deep  into  a  sand- 
bar. There  was  wrenching,  veering  and  strug- 
gling of  the  huge  boat ;  and  at  last  a  resort  to 
those  two  spars  which  seem  to  be  so  uselessly  at- 
tached to  each  side  of  the  forward  deck  of  the 


60  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

river  steamers.  These  were  swung  out  and 
plunged  into  the  bank,  the  rope  and  tackle  put 
into  use,  and  with  the  aid  of  these  stilts  we  were 
skipped  over  the  sand-bar  into  the  deeper  water. 
It  was  on  that  journey  that  I  first  heard  the 
name  Mr.  Clemens  took  as  his  nom  deplume. 
The  droning  voice  of  the  sailor  taking  soundings, 
as  we  slowly  crept  through  low  water,  called  out, 
"  Mark  twain  !"  and  the  pilot  answered  by  steer- 
ing the  boat  according  to  the  story  of  the  plumb- 
line. 

The  trip  on  a  Mississippi  steamer,  as  we  knew 
it,  is  now  one  of  the  things  of  the  past.  It  was 
accounted  then,  and  before  the  war,  our  most  luxu- 
rious mode  of  travel.  Every  one  was  sociable, 
and  in  the  constant  association  of  the  long  trip, 
some  warm  friendships  sprung  up.  We  had  then 
our  first  acquaintance  with  Bostonians  as  well  as 
with  Southerners.  Of  course,  it  was  too  soon  for 
Southern  women,  robbed  of  home,  and  even  the 
necessities  of  life,  by  the  cruelty  of  war,  to  be 
wholly  cordial.  We  were  more  and  more  amazed 
at  the  ignorance  in  the  South  concerning  the 
North.  A  young  girl,  otherwise  intelligent,  thawed 
out  enough  to  confess  to  me  that  she  had  really  no 
idea  that  Yankee  soldiers  were  like  their  own 
physically.  She  imagined  they  would  be  as 
widely  different  as  black  from  white,  and  a  sort 


RIVER  SCENERY  6 1 

of  combination  of  gorilla  and  chimpanzee.  Gun- 
boats had  but  a  short  time  before  moored  at  the 
levee  that  bounded  her  grandmother's  plantation, 
and  the  negroes  ran  into  the  house  crying  the  ter- 
rible news  of  the  approach  of  the  enemy.  The 
very  thought  of  a  Yankee  was  abhorrent ;  but  the 
girl,  more  absorbed  with  curiosity  than  fear,  slip- 
ped out  of  the  house  to  where  a  view  of  the  walk 
from  the  landing  was  to  be  had,  and,  seeing  a 
naval  officer  approaching,  raced  back  to  her  grand- 
mother, crying  out  in  surprise  at  finding  a  being 
like  unto  her  own  people,  "  Why,  it's  a  man." 

As  we  approached  New  Orleans,  the  plantations 
grew  richer.  The  palmetto  and  the  orange,  by 
which  we  are  "  twice  blessed  "  in  its  simultaneous 
blossom  and  fruit ;  the  oleander,  treasured  in  con- 
servatories at  home,  here  growing  to  tree  size 
along  the  country  roads,  all  charmed  us.  The  wide 
galleries  around  the  two  stories  of  the  houses  were 
a  delight.  The  course  of  our  boat  was  often  near 
enough  the  shore  for  us  to  see  the  family  gathered 
around  the  supper-table  spread  on  the  upper  gal- 
lery, which  was  protected  from  the  sun  by  blinds 
or  shades  of  matting. 

We  left  the  steamer  at  New  Orleans  with 
regret.  It  seems,  even  now,  that  it  is  rather  too 
bad  we  have  grown  into  so  hurried  a  race  that 
we  cannot  spare  the  time  to  travel  as  leisurely 


62  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

or  luxuriously  as  we  then  did.  Even  pleasure- 
seekers  going  off  for  a  tour,  when  they  are 
not  restricted  by  time  nor  mode  of  journeying, 
study  the  time-tables  closely,  to  see  by  which 
route  the  quickest  passage  can  be  made. 


CHAPTER   II. 

NEW   ORLEANS     AFTER    THE     WAR GENERAL    WINFIELD 

SCOTT UP   RED   RIVER THE    SKILL   OF  THE   PILOTS 

OUR     ROMANTIC    LOVER AT     ALEXANDRIA A 

NEGRO     PRAYER-MEETING CONFEDERATE     FORTS 

QUICKSANDS ALLIGATOR   HUNTING. 

\  \T^  were  detained,  by  orders,  for  a  little  time 
in  New  Orleans,  and  the  General  was  enthu- 
siastic over  the  city.  All  day  we  strolled  through 
the  streets,  visiting  the  French  quarter,  contrasting 
the  foreign  shop-keepers,  who  were  never  too 
hurried  to  be  polite  with  our  brusque  business-like 
Northern  clerk,  dined  in  the  charming  French 
restaurants,  where  we  saw  eating  made  a  fine  art. 
The  sea-food  was  then  new  to  me,  and  I  hovered 
over  the  crabs,  lobsters  and  shrimps,  but  remem- 
ber how  amused  the  General  was  by  my  quick  re- 
treat from  a  huge  green  live  turtle,  whose  locomo- 
tion was  suspended  by  his  being  turned  upon  his 
back.  He  was  unconsciously  bearing  his  own 
epitaph  fastened  upon  his  shell :  "  I  will  be  served 
up  for  dinner  at  5  p.  M.  We  of  course  spent  hours, 

even  matutinal  hours,  at  the  market,  and  the  Gen- 

63 


64  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

eral  drank  so  much  coffee  that  the  old  mammy 
who  served  him  said  many  a  "  Mon  Dieu !"  in  sur- 
prise at  his  capacity,  and  volubly  described  in 
French  to  her  neighbors  what  marvels  a  Yankee 
man  could  do  in  coffee-sipping.  For  years  after, 
when  very  good  coffee  was  praised,  or  even  Eliza's 
strongly  commended,  his  ne  plus  ultra  was, 
"  Almost  equal  to  the  French  market."  We  here 
learned  what  artistic  effects  could  be  produced 
with  prosaic  carrots,  beets,  onions  and  turnips. 
The  General  looked  with  wonder  upon  the  leis- 
urely Creole  grandee  who  came  to  order  his  own 
dinner.  After  his  epicurean  selection,  he  showed 
the  interest  and  skill  that  a  Northern  man  might 
in  the  buying  of  a  picture  or  a  horse,  when  the 
servant  bearing  the  basket  was  entrusted  with 
what  was  to  be  enjoyed  at  night.  We  had  never 
known  men  that  took  time  to  market,  except  as 
our  hurried  Northern  fathers  of  families  sometimes 
made  sudden  raids  upon  the  butcher,  on  the  way 
to  business,  and  called  off  an  order  as  they  ran 
for  a  car. 

The  wide-terraced  Canal  Street,  with  its  throng 
of  leisurely  promenaders,  was  our  daily  resort. 
The  stands  of  Parma  violets  on  the  street  corners 
perfumed  the  whole  block,  and  the  war  seemed 
not  even  to  have  cast  a  cloud  over  the  first 
foreign  pleasure-loving  people  we  had  seen.  The 


DETENTION  AT  NEW  ORLEANS.  65 

General  was  so  pleased  with  the  picturesque  cos- 
tumes of  the  servants,  that  Eliza  was  put  into  a 
turban  at  his  entreaty.  In  vain  we  tried  for  a 
glimpse  of  the  Creole  beauties.  The  duenna  that 
guarded  them  in  their  rare  promenades,  as  they 
glided  by,  wearing  gracefully  the  lace  mantilla, 
bonnetless,  and  shaded  by  a  French  parasol, 
whisked  the  pretty  things  out  of  sight,  quick  as 
we  were  to  discover  and  respectfully  follow  them. 
The  effects  of  General  Butler's  reign  were  still 
visible  in  the  marvelous  cleanliness  of  the  city. 
We  drove  on  the  shell  road,  spent  hours  in  the 
horse-cars,  went  to  the  theatres,  and  even  pene- 
trated the  rooms  of  the  most  exclusive  milliners, 
for  General  Custer  liked  the  shops  as  much  as  I 
did.  Indeed,  we  had  a  grand  play-day,  and  were 
not  in  the  least  troubled  at  our  detention. 

General  Scott  was  then  in  our  hotel,  about  to  set 
out  for  the  North.  He  remembered  Lieutenant 
Custer,  who  had  reported  to  him  in  1861,  and  was 
the  bearer  of  despatches  sent  by  him  to  the  front; 
and  he  congratulated  my  husband  on  his  career  in 
terms  that,  coming  from  such  a  veteran,  made  his 
boy-heart  leap  for  joy.  General  Scott  was  then 
very  infirm,  and,  expressing  a  wish  to  see  me,  with 
old-time  gallantry  begged  my  husband  to  explain 
to  me  that  he  would  be  compelled  to  claim  the 
privilege  of  sitting.  But  it  was  too  much  for  his 


66  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

etiquettical  instincts,  and,  weak  as  he  was,  he  fee- 
bly drew  his  tall  form  to  a  half-standing  position, 
leaning  against  the  lounge  as  I  entered.  Pictures 
of  General  Scott,  in  my  father's  home,  belonged 
to  my  earliest  recollections.  He  was  a  colossal 
figure  on  a  fiery  steed,  whose  prancing  fore  feet 
never  touched  the  earth.  The  Mexican  War  had 
hung  a  halo  about  him,  and  my  childish  explana- 
tion of  the  clouds  of  dust  that  the  artist  sought  to 
represent  was  the  smoke  of  battle,  in  which  I  sup- 
posed the  hero  lived  perpetually.  And  now  this 
decrepit,  tottering  man — I  was  almost  sorry  to 
have  seen  him  at  all,  except  for  the  praise  that  he 
bestowed  upon  my  husband,  which,  coming  from 
so  old  a  soldier,  I  deeply  appreciated. 

General  Sheridan  had  assumed  command  of  the 
Department  of  the  Mississippi,  and  the  Govern- 
ment had  hired  a  beautiful  mansion  for  headquar- 
ters, where  he  was  at  last  living  handsomely  after 
all  his  rough  campaigning.  When  we  dined  with 
him,  we  could  but  contrast  the  food  prepared  over 
a  Virginia  camp-fire,  with  the  dainty  French  cook- 
ery of  the  old  colored  Mary,  who  served  him  after- 
ward so  many  years.  General  Custer  was,  of 
course,  glad  to  be  under  his  chief  again,  and  after 
dinner,  while  I  was  given  over  to  some  of  the 
military  family  to  entertain,  the  two  men,  sitting 
on  the  wide  gallery,  talked  of  what,  it  was  then 


THE  END  OF  A  CITY  HOLIDA  K  67 

believed,  would  be  a  campaign  across  the  border. 
I  was  left  in  complete  ignorance,  and  did  not  even 
know  that  an  army  of  70,000  men  was  being  or- 
ganized under  General  Sheridan's  masterly  hand. 
My  husband  read  the  Eastern  papers  to  me,  and 
took  the  liberty  of  reserving  such  articles  as  might 
prove  incendiary  in  his  family.  If  our  incorrigible 
scamp  spoke  of  the  expected  wealth  he  intended 
to  acquire  from  the  sacking  of  palaces  and  the 
spoils  of  churches,  he  was  frowned  upon,  not  only 
because  the  General  tried  to  teach  him  that  there 
were  some  subjects  too  sacred  to  be  touched  by 
his  irreverent  tongue,  but  because  he  did  not  wish 
my  anxieties  to  be  aroused  by  the  prospect  of  an- 
other campaign.  As  much  of  my  story  must  be 
of  the  hardships  my  husband  endured,  I  have  here 
lingered  a  little  over  the  holiday  that  our  journey 
and  the  detention  in  New  Orleans  gave  him.  I 
hardly  think  any  one  can  recall  a  complaint  of  his 
in  those  fourteen  years  of  tent-life ;  but  he  was 
taught,  through  deprivations,  how  to  enjoy  every 
moment  of  such  days  as  that  charming  journey 
and  city  experience  gave  us. 

The  steamer  chartered  to  take  troops  up  the  Red 
River  was  finally  ready,  and  we  sailed  the  last 
week  in  June.  There  were  horses  and  Government 
freight  on  board.  The  captain  was  well  named 
Greathouse,  as  he  greeted  us  with  hospitality  and 


68  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

put  his  little  steamer  at  our  disposal.  Besides 
the  fact  that  this  contract  for  transportation  would 
line  his  pockets  well,  he  really  seemed  glad  to 
have  us.  He  was  a  Yankee,  and  gave  us  his  na- 
tive State  (Indiana)  in  copious  and  inexhaustible 
supplies,  as  his  contribution  to  the  talks  on  deck. 
Long  residence  in  the  South  had  not  dimmed  his 
patriotism ;  and  in  the  rapid  transits  from  deck  to 
pilot-house,  of  this  tall  Hoosier,  I  almost  saw  the 
straps  fastening  down  the  trousers  of  Brother 
Jonathan,  as  well  as  the  coat-tails  cut  from  the 
American  flag,  so  entirely  did  he  personate  in  his 
figure  our  emblematic  Uncle  Sam.  It  is  customary 
for  the  Government  to  defray  the  expenses  of  offi- 
cers and  soldiers  when  traveling  under  orders  ; 
but  so  much  red-tape  is  involved  that  they  often 
pay  their  own  way  at  the  time,  and  the  quarter- 
master reimburses  them  at  the  journey's  end. 
The  captain  knew  this,  and  thought  he  would 
give  himself  the  pleasure  of  having  us  as  his 
guests.  Accordingly,  he  took  the  General  one 
side,  and  imparted  this  very  pleasing  information. 
Even  with  the  provident  ones  this  would  be  a 
relief;  while  we  had  come  on  board  almost  wrecked 
in  our  finances  by  the  theatre,  the  tempting  flow- 
ers, the  fascinating  restaurants,  and  finally,  a  dis- 
astrous lingering  one  day  in  the  beguiling  shop  of 
Madam  Olympe,  the  reigning  milliner.  The  Gen- 


HOSPITALITY  OF  CAPTAIN  GREATHOUSE.  69 

eral  had  bought  some  folly  for  me,  in  spite  of  the 
heroic  protest  that  I  made  about  its  inappropriate- 
ness  for  Texas,  and  it  left  us  just  enough  to  pay  for 
our  food  on  our  journey,  provided  we  ordered 
nothing  extra,  and  had  no  delays.  Captain  Great- 
house  little  knew  to  what  paupers  he  was  extend- 
ing his  hospitality.  No  one  can  comprehend  how 
carelessly  and  enjoyably  army  people  can  walk 
about  with  empty  pockets,  knowing  that  it  is  but 
a  matter  of  thirty  days'  waiting  till  Richard  shall 
be  himself  again.  My  husband  made  haste  to 
impart  the  news  quietly  to  the  staff,  that  the 
captain  was  going  to  invite  them  all  to  be  his 
guests,  and  so  relieve  their  anxiety  about  financial 
embarrassment.  The  scamp  saw  a  chance  for  a 
joke,  and  when  the  captain  again  appeared  he 
knew  that  he  was  going  to  receive  the  invitation, 
and  anticipated  it.  In  our  presence  he  jingled 
the  last  twenty-six  cents  he  had  in  the  world 
against  the  knife  in  his  almost  empty  pockets, 
assumed  a  Croesus-like  air,  and  begged  to  know 
the  cost  of  the  journey,  as  he  loftily  said  he  made 
it  a  rule  always  to  pay  in  advance.  At  this,  the 
General,  unable  to  smother  his  laughter,  precipitat- 
ed himself  out  of  the  cabin-door,  nearly  over  the 
narrow  guard,  to  avoid  having  his  merriment 
seen.  When  the  captain  said  blandly  that  he  was 
about  to  invite  our  party  to  partake  of  his  hospital- 


70  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

ity,  our  scamp  bowed,  and  accepted  the  courtesy 
as  if  it  were  condescension  on  his  part,  and  pro- 
ceeded to  take  possession,  and  almost  command, 
of  the  steamer. 

It  was  a  curious  trip,  that  journey  up  the  Red 
River.  We  saw  the  dull  brownish-red  water  from 
the  clay  bed  and  banks  mingling"  with  the  clearer 
current  of  the  Mississippi  long  before  we  entered 
the  mouth  of  the  Red  River.  We  had  a  delight- 
ful journey  ;  but  I  don't  know  why,  except  that 
youth,  health  and  buoyant  spirits  rise  superior  to 
everything.  The  river  was  ugliness  itself.  The 
tree  trunks,  far  up,  were  gray  and  slimy  with  the 
late  freshet,  the  hanging  moss  adding  a  dismal 
feature  to  the  scene.  The  waters  still  covered  the 
low,  muddy  banks  strewn  with  fallen  trees  and 
underbrush.  The  river  was  very  narrow  in  places, 
and  in  our  way  there  were  precursors  of  the  Red 
River  raft  above.  At  one  time,  before  Govern- 
ment work  was  begun,  the  raft  extended  forty- 
five  miles  beyond  Shreveport,  and  closed  the 
channel  to  steamers.  Sometimes  the  pilot  wound 
us  round  just  such  obstructions — logs  and  drift- 
wood jammed  in  so  firmly,  and  so  immovable, 
they  looked  like  solid  ground,  while  rank  vegeta- 
tion sprung  up  through  the  thick  moss  that  cov- 
ered the  decaying  tree  trunks.  The  river  was 
very  crooked,  The  whistle  screeched  when  ap- 


RED  RIVER  OF  THE  SOUTH.  71 

proaching  a  turn  ;  but  so  sudden  were  some  of 
these,  that  a  steamer  coming  down,  not  slacken- 
ing speed,  almost  ran  into  us  at  one  sharp  bend. 
It  shaved  our  sides  and  set  our  boat  a-quivering, 
while  the  vituperations  of  the  boat's  crew,  and  the 
loud,  angry  voices  of  the  captain  and  pilot,  with 
a  prompt  return  of  such  civilities  from  the  other 
steamer,  made  us  aware  that  emergencies  brought 
forth  a  special  and  extensive  set  of  invectives,  re- 
served for  careless  navigation  on  the  Red  River 
of  the  South.  We  grew  to  have  an  increasing 
respect  for  the  skill  of  the  pilot,  as  he  steered  us 
around  sharp  turns,  across  low  water  filled  with 
branching  upturned  tree  trunks,  and  skillfully 
took  a  narrow  path  between  the  shore  and  a  snag 
that  menacingly  ran  its  black  point  out  of  the 
water.  A  steamer  in  advance  of  us,  carrying 
troops,  had  encountered  a  snag,  while  going  at 
great  speed,  and  the  obstructing  tree  ran  entirely 
through  the  boat,  coming  out  at  the  pilot-house. 
The  troops  were  unloaded  and  taken  up  after- 
ward by  another  steamer.  Sometimes  the  roots 
of  great  forest  trees,  swept  down  by  a  freshet, 
become  imbedded  in  the  river,  and  the  whole 
length  of  the  trunk  is  under  water,  swaying  up 
and  down,  but  not  visible  below  the  turbid  sur- 
face. The  forest  is  dense  at  some  points,  and  we 
could  see  but  a  short  distance  as  we  made  our 
circuitous,  dangerous  way. 


72  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

The  sand-bars,  and  the  soft  red  clay  of  the  river- 
banks,  were  a  fitting  home  for  the  alligators  that 
lay  sunning  themselves,  or  sluggishly  crawled  into 
the  stream  as  the  General  popped  away  at  them 
with  his  rifle  from  the  steamer's  guards.  They 
were  new  game,  and  gave  some  fresh  excitement 
to  the  long,  idle  days.  He  never  gave  up  trying, 
in  his  determined  way,  for  the  vulnerable  spot  in 
their  hide  just  behind  the  eye.  I  thought  the 
sand-hill  crane  must  have  first  acquired  its  tiresome 
habit  of  standing  on  one  leg,  from  its  disgust  at 
letting  down  the  reserve  foot  into  such  thick, 
noisome  water.  It  seemed  a  pity  that  some  of 
those  shots  from  the  steamer's  deck  had  not 
ended  its  melancholy  existence.  Through  all  this 
mournful  river-way  the  guitar  twanged,  and  the 
dense  forest  resounded  to  war  choruses  or  old 
college  glees  that  we  sent  out  in  happy  notes  as 
we  sat  on  deck.  I  believe  Captain  Greathouse 
bade  us  good-by  with  regret,  as  he  seemed  to 
enjoy  the  jolly  party,  and  when  we  landed  at 
Alexandria  he  gave  us  a  hogshead  of  ice,  the  last 
we  were  to  see  for  a  year. 

A  house  abandoned  by  its  owners,  and  used  by 
General  Banks  for  headquarters  during  the  war, 
was  selected  for  our  temporary  home.  As  we 
stepped  upon  the  levee,  a  tall  Southerner  came 
toward  me  and  extended  his  hand.  At  that  time 


MEMORIES  OF  CHILDHOOD  REVIVED. 


73 


the  citizens  were  not  wont  to  welcome  the  Yankee 
in  that  manner.  He  had  to  tell  me  who  he  was, 
as  unfortunately  I  had  forgotten,  and  I  began 
to  realize  the  truth  of  the  saying,  that  "  there  are 
but  two  hundred  and  fifty  people  in  the  world," 
when  I  found  an  acquaintance  in  this  isolated  town. 
He  proved  to  be  the  only  Southerner  I  had  ever 
known  in  my  native  town  in  Michigan,  who  came 
there  when  a  lad  to  visit  kinsfolk.  In  those  days 
his  long  black  hair,  large  dark  eyes  and  languish- 
ing manner,  added  to  the  smooth,  soft-flowing, 
flattering  speeches,  made  sad  havoc  in  our  school- 
girl ranks.  I  suppose  the  youthful  and  probably 
susceptible  hearts  of  our  circle  were  all  set  flutter- 
ing, for  the  boy  seemed  to  find  pleasure  in  a  chat 
with  any  one  of  us  that  fell  to  him  in  our  walks 
to  and  from  school.  The  captivating  part  of  it  all 
was  the  lines  written  on  the  pages  of  my  arith- 
metic, otherwise  so  odious  to  me — "  Come  with 
me  to  my  distant  home,  where,  under  soft  South- 
ern skies,  we'll  breathe  the  odor  of  orange  groves." 
None  of  us  had  answered  to  his  "  Come,"  possibly 
because  of  the  infantile  state  of  our  existence, 
possibly  because  the  invitation  was  too  general. 
And  here  stood  our  youthful  hero,  worn  prema- 
turely old  and  shabby  after  his  four  years  of 
fighting  for  "  the  cause."  The  boasted  "  halls  of 
his  ancestors,"  the  same  to  which  we  had  been  so 


74  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

ardently  invited,  were  a  plain  white  cottage.  No 
orange  groves,  but  a  few  lime-trees  sparsely  scat- 
tered over  the  prescribed  lawn.  In  the  pleasant 
visit  that  we  all  had,  there  was  discreet  avoidance 
of  the  poetic  license  he  had  taken  in  early  years, 
when  describing  his  home  under  the  southern  sky. 
Alexandria  had  been  partly  burned  during 
the  war,  and  was  built  up  mostly  with  one-story 
cottages.  Indeed,  it  was  always  the  popular 
mode  of  building  there.  We  found  everything 
a  hundred  years  behind  the  times.  The  houses  of 
our  mechanics  at  home  had  more  conveniences 
and  modern  improvements.  I  suppose  the  retinue 
of  servants  before  the  war  rendered  the  inhabi- 
tants indifferent  to  what  we  think  absolutely 
necessary  for  comfort.  The  house  we  used  as 
headquarters  had  large,  lofty  rooms  separated  by  a 
wide  hall,  while  in  addition  there  were  two  wings. 
A  family  occupied  one-half  of  the  house,  caring 
for  it  in  the  absence  of  the  owners.  In  the  six 
weeks  we  were  there,  we  never  saw  them,  and 
naturally  concluded  they  were  not  filled  with  joy 
at  our  presence.  The  house  was  delightfully  airy  ; 
but  we  took  up  the  Southern  custom  of  living  on 
the  gallery.  The  library  was  still  intact,  in  spite 
of  its  having  been  headquarters  for  our  army;  and 
evidently  the  people  had  lived  in  what  was 
considered  luxury  for  the  South  in  its  former 


A  WATER  FAMINE. 


75 


days,  yet  everything  was  primitive  enough. 
This  great  house,  filled  as  it  once  was  with  serv- 
ants, had  its  sole  water-supply  from  two  tanks 
or  cisterns  above-ground  at  the  rear.  The  rich 
and  the  poor  were  alike  dependent  upon  these 
receptacles,  for  water;  and  it  was  not  a  result 
of  the  war,  for  this  was  the  only  kind  of  res- 
ervoir provided,  even  in  prosperous  times.  But 
one  well  was  dug  in  Alexandria,  as  the  water  was 
brackish  and  impure.  Each  house,  no  matter  how 
small,  had  cisterns,  sometimes  as  high  as  the 
smaller  cottages  themselves.  The  water  in  those 
where  we  lived  was  very  low,  the  tops  were 
uncovered,  and  dust,  leaves,  bugs  and  flies  were 
blown  in,  while  the  cats  strolled  around  the  upper 
rim  during  their  midnight  orchestral  overtures. 
We  found  it  necessary  to  husband  the  fast  lower- 
ing water,  as  the  rains  were  over  for  the  summer. 
The  servants  were  enjoined  to  draw  out  the 
home-made  plug  (there  was  not  even  a  Yankee 
faucet)  with  the  utmost  care,  while  some  one  was 
to  keep  vigilant  watch  on  a  cow,  very  advanced 
in  cunning,  that  used  to  come  and  hook  at  the 
plug  till  it  was  loosened  and  fell  out.  The  sound 
of  flowing  water  was  our  first  warning  of  the 
precious  wasting.  No  one  could  drink  the  river- 
water,  and  even  in  our  ablutions  we  turned  our 
eyes  away  as  we  poured  the  water  from  the  pitcher 


76  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

into  the  bowl.  Our  rain-water  was  so  full  of 
gallinippers  and  pollywogs,  that  a  glass  stood  by 
the  plate  untouched  until  the  sediment  and  nat- 
ural history  united  at  the  bottom,  while  heaven 
knows  what  a  microscope,  had  we  possessed  one, 
would  have  revealed  ! 

Eliza  was  well  primed  with  stories  of  alligators 
by  the  negroes  and  soldiers,  who  loved  to  frighten 
her.  One  measuring  thirteen  feet  eight  inches  was 
killed  on  the  river-bank,  they  said,  as  he  was  about 
to  partake  of  his  favorite  supper,  a  negro  sleep- 
ing on  the  sand.  It  was  enough  for  Eliza  when 
she  heard  of  this  preference  for  those  of  her 
color,  and  she  duly  stampeded.  She  was  not  well 
up  in  the  habits  of  animals,  and  having  seen  the 
alligators  crawling  over  the  mud  of  the  river  banks, 
she  believed  they  were  so  constituted  that  at  night 
they  could  take  long  tramps  over  the  country. 
She  used  to  assure  me  that  she  nightly  heard  them 
crawling  around  the  house.  One  night,  when  some 
fearful  sounds  issued  from  the  cavernous  depths 
of  the  old  cistern,  she  ran  to  one  of  the  old  negroes 
of  the  place,  her  carefully  braided  wool  rising  from 
her  head  in  consternation,  and  called  out,  "  Jest 
listen  !  jest  listen!"  The  old  mammy  quieted  her 
by,  "  Oh  la,  honey,  don't  you  be  skeart ;  nothin's 
goin'  to  hurt  you  ;  them's  only  bull-toads."  This 
information,  though  it  quieted  Eliza's  fears,  did 


THE  SOUTHERN*  GALLTXIPPER.  JJ 

not  make  the  cistern-water  any   more  enjoyable 
to  us. 

The  houses  along  Red  River  were  raised  from 
the  ground  on  piles,  as  the  soil  was  too  soft  and 
porous  for  cellars.  Before  the  fences  were  de- 
stroyed and  the  place  fell  into  dilapidation,  there 
might  have  been  a  lattice  around  the  base  of  the 
building,  but  now  it  was  gone.  Though  this  open 
space  under  the  house  gave  vent  for  what  air  was 
stirring,  it  also  offered  free  circulation  to  pigs,  that 
ran  grunting  and  squealing  back  and  forth,  and 
even  the  calves  sought  its  grateful  shelter  from 
the  sun  and  flies.  And,  oh,  the  mosquitoes!  Others 
have  exhausted  adjectives  in  trying  to  describe 
them,  and  until  I  came  to  know  those  of  the  Mis- 
souri River  at  Fort  Lincoln,  Dakota,  I  joined  in 
the  general  testimony,  that  the  Red  River  of  the 
South  could  not  be  outdone.  The  bayous  about 
us,  filled  with  decaying  vegetable  matter,  and 
surrounded  with  marshy  ground,  and  the  frequent 
rapid  fall  of  the  river,  leaving  banks  of  mud,  all 
bred  mosquitoes,  or  gallinippers,  as  the  darkies 
called  them.  Eliza  took  counsel  as  to  the  best 
mode  of  extermination,  and  brought  old  kettles 
with  raw  cotton  into  our  room,  from  which  pro- 
ceeded such  smudges  and  such  odors  as  would 
soon  have  wilted  a  Northern  mosquito  ;  but  it  only 
resulted  in  making  us  feel  like  a  piece  of  dried 


78  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

meat  hanging  in  a  smoke-house,  while  the  undis- 
turbed insect  winged  its  way  about  our  heads, 
singing  as  it  swirled  and  dipped  and  plunged  its 
javelin  into  our  defenseless  flesh.  There  were  days 
there,  as  at  Fort  Lincoln,  when  the  wind,  blowing 
in  a  certain  direction,  brought  such  myriads  of 
them  that  I  was  obliged  to  beat  a  retreat  under 
the  netting  that  enveloped  the  high,  broad  bed, 
which  is  a  specialty  of  the  extreme  South,  and 
with  my  book,  writing  or  sewing  listened  triumph- 
antly to  the  clamoring  army  beating  on  the  out- 
side of  the  bars.  The  General  made  fun  of  me 
thus  enthroned,  when  he  returned  from  office 
work  ;  but  I  used  to  reply  that  he  could  afford  to 
remain  unprotected,  if  the  greedy  creatures  could 
draw  their  sustenance  from  his  veins  without  leav- 
ing a  sting. 

At  the  rear  of  our  house  were  two  rows  of 
negro  quarters,  which  Eliza  soon  penetrated,  and 
afterward  begged  me  to  visit.  Only  the  very  old 
and  worthless  servants  remained.  The  owners  of 
the  place  on  which  we  were  living  had  three  other 
sugar  plantations  in  the  valley,  from  one  of  which 
alone  2,300  hogsheads  of  sugar  were  shipped  in 
one  season,  and  at  the  approach  of  the  army  500 
able-bodied  negroes  were  sent  into  Texas.  Eliza 
described  the  decamping  of  the  owner  of  the  plan- 
tation thus,  "  Oh,  Miss  Libbie,  the  war  made  a 


NEGRO  REMINISCENCES.  Jg 

mighty  scatter."  The  poor  creatures  left  were  in 
desperate  straits.  One,  a  bed-ridden  woman, 
having-  been  a  house-servant,  was  intelligent  for 
one  of  her  race.  After  Eliza  had  taken  me  the 
rounds,  I  piloted  the  General,  and  he  found  that, 
though  the  very  old  woman  did  not  know  her  exact 
age,  she  could  tell  him  of  events  that  she  remem- 
bered when  she  was  in  New  Orleans  with  her  mis- 
tress, which  enabled  him  to  calculate  her  years  to 
be  almost  a  hundred.  Three  old  people  claimed 
to  remember  "  Washington's  war."  I  look  back 
to  our  visit  to  her  little  cabin,  where  we  sat  beside 
her  bed,  as  one  of  vivid  interest.  The  old  woman 
knew  little  of  the  war,  and  no  one  had  told  her 
of  the  proclamation  until  our  arrival.  We  were 
both  much  moved  when,  after  asking  us  ques- 
tions, she  said  to  me,  "  And,  Missey,  is  it  really 
true  that  I  is  free  ?"  Then  she  raised  her  eyes  to 
heaven,  and  blessed  the  Lord  for  letting  her  live 
to  see  the  day.  The  General,  who  had  to  expostu- 
late with  Eliza  sometimes  for  her  habit  of  feeding 
every  one  out  of  our  supplies,  whether  needy  or 
not,  had  no  word  to  say  now.  Our  kitchen  could 
be  full  of  grizzly,  tottering  old  wrecks,  and  he  only 
smiled  on  the  generous  dispenser  of  her  master's 
substance.  Indeed,  he  had  them  fed  all  the  time 
we  stayed  there,  and  they  dragged  their  tattered 
caps  from  their  old  heads,  and  blessed  him  as  we 


80  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

left,  for  what   he  had  done,  and  for  the  food  that 
he  provided  for  them  after  we  were  gone. 

It  was  at  Alexandria  that  I  first  visited  a  negro 
prayer-meeting.  As  we  sat  on  the  gallery  one 
evening,  we  heard  the  shouting  and  singing,  and 
quietly  crept  round  to  the  cabin  where  the  exhort- 
ing and  groaning  were  going  on.  My  husband 
stood  with  uncovered  head,  reverencing  their  sin- 
cerity, and  not  a  muscle  of  his  face  moved, 
though  it  was  rather  difficult  to  keep  back  a  smile 
at  the  grotesqueness  of  the  scene.  The  language, 
and  the  absorbed  manner  in  which  these  old 
slaves  held  communion  with  their  Lord,  as  if  He 
were  there  in  person,  and  told  Him  in  simple  but 
powerful  language  their  thanks  that  the  day  of 
Jubilee  had  come,  that  their  lives  had  been  spared 
to  see  freedom  come  to  His  people,  made  us  sure 
that  a  faith  that  brought  their  Saviour  down  in 
their  midst  was  superior  to  that  of  the  more  civil- 
ized, who  send  petitions  to  a  throne  that  they 
themselves  surround  with  clouds  of  doctrine  and 
doubt.  Though  they  were  so  poor  and  helpless, 
and  seemingly  without  anything  to  inspire  grati- 
tude, evidently  there  were  reasons  in  their  own 
minds  for  heartfelt  thanks,  as  there  was  no  mistak- 
ing the  genuineness  of  feeling  when  they  sang  : 

"  Bless  the  Lord  that  I  can  rise  and  tell 
That  Jesus  has  done  all  things  well." 


COLORED  PRAYER-MEETING.  8 1 

Old  as  some  of  these  people  were,  their  religion 
took  a  very  energetic  form.  They  swayed  back 
and  forth  as  they  sat  about  the  dimly  lighted 
cabin,  clapped  their  hands  spasmodically,  and 
raised  their  eyes  to  heaven  in  moments  of  absorp- 
tion. There  were  those  among  the  younger  peo- 
ple who  jumped  up  and  down  as  the  "  power  " 
possessed  them,  and  the  very  feeblest  uttered 
groans,  and  quavered  out  the  chorus  of  the  old 
tunes,  in  place  of  the  more  active  demonstrations 
for  which  their  rheumatic  old  limbs  now  unfitted 
them.  When,  afterward,  my  husband  read  to  me 
newspaper  accounts  of  negro  camp-meetings  or 
prayer-meetings  graphically  written,  no  descrip- 
tion seemed  exaggerated  to  us ;  and  he  used  to 
say  that  nothing  compared  with  that  night  when 
we  first  listened  to  those  serious,  earnest  old  cen- 
tenarians, whose  feeble  voices  still  quavered  out  a 
tune  of  gratitude,  as,  with  bent  forms  and  bowed 
heads,  they  stood  leaning  on  their  canes  and 
crutches. 

As  the  heat  became  more  overpowering,  I  be- 
gan to  make  excuses  for  the  slip-shod  manner  of 
living  of  the  Red  River  people.  Active  as  was 
my  temperament,  climatic  influences  told,  and  I 
felt  that  I  should  have  merited  the  denunciation 
of  the  antique  woman  in  "  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin," 
of  "  Heow  shiftless  ! "  It  was  hard  to  move  about 


82  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

in  the  heat  of  the  day,  but  at  evening  we  all  went 
for  a  ride.  It  seemed  to  me  a  land  of  enchant- 
ment. We  had  never  known  such  luxuriance  of 
vegetation.  The  valley  of  the  river  extended 
several  miles  inland,  the  foliage  was  varied  and 
abundant,  and  the  sunsets  had  deeper,  richer 
colors  than  any  at  the  North.  The  General,  get 
ting  such  constant  pleasure  out  of  nature,  and  not 
in  the  least  minding  to  express  it,  was  glad  to 
hear  even  the  prosaic  one  of  our  number,  who 
rarely  cared  for  color  or  scenery,  go  into  raptures 
over  the  gorgeous  orange  and  red  of  that  Southern 
sky.  We  sometimes  rode  for  miles  along  the 
country  roads,  between  hedges  of  osage-orange 
on  one  side,  and  a  double  white  rose  on  the  other, 
growing  fifteen  feet  high.  The  dew  enhanced 
the  fragrance,  and  a  lavish  profusion  was  dis- 
played by  nature  in  that  valley,  which  was  a  con- 
stant delight  to  us.  Sometimes  my  husband  and 
I  remained  out  very  late,  loth  to  come  back  to 
the  prosy,  uninteresting  town,  with  its  streets 
flecked  with  bits  of  cotton,  evidences  of  the  traffic 
of  the  world,  as  the  levee  was  now  piled  up  with 
bales  ready  for  shipment.  Once  the  staff  crossed 
with  us  to  the  other  side  of  the  river,  and  rode 
out  through  more  beautiful  country  roads,  to 
what  was  still  called  Sherman  Institute.  General 
Sherman  had  been  at  the  head  of  this  military 


CONFEDERATE  ENGINEERING.  83 

school  before  the  war,  but  it  was  subsequently 
converted  into  a  hospital.  It  was  in  a  lonely  and 
deserted  district,  and  the  great  empty  stone 
building,  with  its  turreted  corners  and  modern 
architecture,  seemed  utterly  incongruous  in  the 
wild  pine  forest  that  surrounded  it.  We  returned 
to  the  river,  and  visited  two  forts  on  the  bank 
opposite  Alexandria.  They  were  built  by  a  Con- 
federate officer  who  used  his  Federal  prisoners 
for  workmen.  The  General  took  in  at  once  the 
admirable  situation  selected,  which  commanded 
the  river  for  many  miles.  He  thoroughly  appre- 
ciated, and  endeavored  carefully  to  explain  to  me, 
how  cleverly  the  few  materials  at  the  disposal  of 
the  impoverished  South  had  been  utilized.  The 
moat  about  the  forts  was  the  deepest  our  officers 
had  ever  seen.  Closely  as  my  husband  studied 
the  plan  and  formation,  he  said  it  would  have 
added  greatly  to  his  appreciation,  had  he  then 
known,  what  he  afterward  learned,  that  the  Con- 
federate engineer  who  planned  this  admirable 
fortification  was  one  of  his  classmates  at  West 
Point,  of  whom  he  was  very  fond.  In  1864  an 
immense  expedition  of  our  forces  was  sent  up  the 
Red  River,  to  capture  Shreveport  and  open  up  the 
great  cotton  districts  of  Texas.  It  was  unsuccess- 
ful, and  the  retreat  was  rendered  impossible  by 
low  water,  while  much  damage  was  done  to  our 


84  TEN7ING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

fleet  by  the  very  Confederate  forts  we  were  now 
visiting.  A  dam  was  constructed  near  Alexan- 
dria, and  the  squadron  was  saved  from  capture 
or  annihilation  by  this  timely  conception  of  a 
quick-witted  Western  man,  Colonel  Joseph  Bailey, 
The  dam  was  visible  from  the  walls  of  the  forts, 
where  we  climbed  for  a  view, 

As  we  resumed  our  ride  to  the  steamer,  the 
General,  who  was  usually  an  admirable  path- 
finder, proposed  a  new  and  shorter  road;  and  lik- 
ing variety  too  much  to  wish  to  travel  the  same 
country  twice  over,  all  gladly  assented.  Every- 
thing went  very  well  for  a  time.  We  were  ab- 
sorbed in  talking,  noting  new  scenes  on  the  route, 
or,  as  was  our  custom  when  riding  off  from  the 
public  highway,  we  sang  some  chorus  ;  and  thus 
laughing,  singing,  joking,  we  galloped  over  the 
ground  thoughtlessly  into  the  very  midst  of  seri- 
ous danger.  Apparently,  nothing  before  us  im- 
peded our  way.  We  knew  very  little  of  the 
nature  of  the  soil  in  that  country,  but  had  become 
somewhat  accustomed  to  the  bayous  that  either 
start  from  the  river  or  appear  suddenly  inland, 
quite  disconnected  from  any  stream.  On  that 
day  we  dashed  heedlessly  to  the  bank  of  a  wide 
bayou  that  poured  its  waters  into  the  Red  River, 
Instead  of  thinking  twice,  and  taking  the  precau- 
tion to  follow  its  course  farther  up  into  the  coun- 


86  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

try,  where  the  mud  was  dryer  and  the  space  to 
cross  much  narrower,  we  determined  not  to  de- 
lay, and  prepared  to  go  over.  The  most  venture- 
some dashed  first  on  to  this  bit  of  dried  slough, 
and  though  the  crust  swayed  and  sunk  under 
the  horse's  flying  feet,  it  still  seemed  caked  hard 
enough  to  bear  every  weight.  There  were  seams 
and  fissures  in  portions  of  the  bayou,  through 
which  the  moist  mud  oozed ;  but  these  were  not 
sufficient  warning  to  impetuous  people.  Another 
and  another  sprang  over  the  undulating  soil. 
Having  reached  the  other  side,  they  rode  up  and 
down  the  opposite  bank,  shouting  to  us  where 
they  thought  it  the  safest  to  cross,  and  of  course 
interlarded  their  directions  with  good-natured 
scoffing  about  hesitation,  timidity,  and  so  on. 
The  General,  never  second  in  anything  when  he 
could  help  it,  remained  behind  to  fortify  my  sink- 
ing heart,  and  urge  me  to  undertake  the  crossing- 
with  him.  He  reminded  me  how  carefully  Custis 
Lee  had  learned  to  follow  and  to  trust  to  him, 
and  he  would  doubtless  plant  his  hoofs  in  the 
very  tracks  of  his  own  horse.  Another  of  our 
party  tried  to  bolster  up  my  courage,  assuring  me 
that  if  the  heavy  one  among  us  was  safely  on  the 
other  bank,  my  light  weight  might  be  trusted.  I 
dreaded  making  the  party  wait  until  we  had 
gone  farther  up  the  bayou,  and  might  have  mus- 


ADVENTURE  ON  A  BAYOU.  87 

tered  up  the  required  pluck  had  I  not  met  with 
trepidation  on  the  part  of  my  horse.  His  fine, 
delicate  ears  told  me,  as  plainly  as  if  he  could 
speak,  that  I  was  asking  a  great  deal  of  him.  We 
had  encountered  quicksands  together  in  the  bed 
of  a  Virginia  stream,  and  both  horse  and  rider 
were  recalling  the  fearful  sensation,  when  the 
animal's  hind  legs  sank,  leaving  his  body  en- 
gulfed in  the  soil.  With  powerful  struggles 
with  his  fore  feet  and  muscular  shoulders,  we 
plunged  to  the  right  and  left,  and  found  at  last 
firm  soil  on  which  to  escape.  With  such  a  recol- 
lection still  fresh,  as  memory  is  sure  to  retain  ter- 
rors like  that,  it  was  hardly  a  wonder  that  we 
shrank  from  the  next  step.  His  trembling  flanks 
shook  as  much  as  the  unsteady  hand  that  held  his 
bridle.  He  quivered  from  head  to  foot,  and  held 
back.  I  urged,  and  patted  his  neck,  while  we 
both  continued  to  shiver  on  the  brink.  The  Gen- 
eral laughed  at  the  two  cowards  we  really  were, 
but  still  gave  us  time  to  get  our  courage  up  to 
the  mark.  The  officer  remaining  with  us  con- 
tinued to  encourage  me  with  assurances  that  there 
was  "  not  an  atom  of  danger,"  and  finally,  with  a 
bound,  shouting  out,  "  Look  how  well  I  shall  go 
over  ! "  sprang  upon  the  vibrating  crust.  In  an  in- 
stant, with  a  crack  like  a  pistol,  the  thin  layer  of 
solid  mud  broke,  and  down  went  the  gay,  hand- 


88  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

somely  caparisoned  fellow,  engulfed  to  his  waist 
in  the  foul  black  crust.  There  was  at  once  a  com- 
motion. With  no  ropes,  it  was  hard  to  effect  his 
release.  His  horse  helped  him  most,  struggling 
frantically  for  the  bank,  while  the  officers,  having 
flung  themselves  off  from  their  animals  to  rush  to 
his  rescue,  brought  poles  and  tree  branches,  which 
the  imbedded  man  was  not  slow  to  grasp  and 
drag  himself  from  the  perilous  spot  when  only 
superhuman  strength  could  deliver  him,  as  the 
mud  of  a  bayou  sucks  under  its  surface  with 
great  rapidity  anything  with  which  it  comes  in 
contact.  As  soon  as  the  officer  was  dragged 
safely  on  to  firm  earth,  a  shout  went  up  that  rent 
the  air  with  its  merriment.  Scarcely  any  one 
spoke  while  they  labored  to  save  the  man's  life, 
but  once  he  was  out  of  peril,  the  rescuers  felt 
their  hour  had  come.  They  called  out  to  him,  in 
tones  of  derision,  the  vaunting  air  with  which  he 
said  just  before  his  engulfment,  "  Look  at  me; 
see  how  I  go  over ! "  He  wras  indeed  a  sorry 
sight,  plastered  from  head  to  foot  with  black  mud. 
Frightened  as  I  was — for  the  trembling  had  ad- 
vanced to  shivering,  and  my  chattering  teeth  and 
breathless  voice  were  past  my  control — I  still  felt 
that  little  internal  tremor  of  laughter  that  some- 
how pervades  one  who  has  a  sense  of  the  ludicrous 
in  very  dangerous  surroundings. 


A  LOUISIANA  BAYOU. 


89 


I  had  certainly  made  a  very  narrow  escape,  for 
It  would  have  been  doubly  hard  to  extricate  me. 
The  riding  habits  in  those  days  were  very  long, 
and  loaded  so  with  lead  to  keep  them  down  in 
high  winds — and,  I  may  add,  in  furious  riding — 
that  it  was  about  all  I  could  do  to  lift  my  skirt 
when  I  put  it  on. 

I  held  my  horse  with  a  snaffle,  to  get  good, 
smooth  going  out  of  him,  and  my  wrists  became 
pretty  strong ;  but  in  that  slough  I  would  have 
found  them  of  little  avail,  I  fear.  There  remained 
no  opposition  to  seeking  a  narrower  part  of  the 
bayou,  above  where  I  had  made  such  an  escape, 
and  there  was  still  another  good  result  of  this 
severe  lesson  after  that :  when  we  came  to  such 
ominous  looking  soil,  Custis  Lee  and  his  mistress 
were  allowed  all  the  shivering  on  the  brink  that 
their  cowardice  produced,  while  the  party  scattered 
to  investigate  the  sort  of  foundation  we  were 
likely  to  find,  before  we  attempted  to  plunge  over 
a  Louisiana  quagmire. 

The  bayous  were  a  strange  feature  of  that  coun- 
try. Often  without  inlet  or  outlet,  a  strip  of  water 
appeared,  black  and  sluggish,  filled  with  logs,  snags, 
masses  of  underbrush  and  leaves.  The  banks,  cov- 
ered with  weeds,  noisome  plants  and  rank  tangled 
vegetation,  seemed  the  dankest,  darkest,  most 
weird  and  mournful  spots  imaginable,  a  fit  home  for 


00  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

ghouls  and  bogies.  There  could  be  no  more  appro- 
priate place  for  a  sensational  novelist  to  locate  a 
murder.  After  a  time,  I  became  accustomed  to 
these  frequently  occurring  water-ways,  but  it  took 
me  a  good  while  to  enjoy  going  fishing  on  them. 
The  men  were  glad  to  vary  their  days  by  dropping 
a  line  in  that  vile  water,  and  I  could  not  escape 
their  urging  to  go,  though  I  was  excused  from 
fishing. 

On  one  occasion  we  went  down  the  river  on  a 
steamer,  the  sailors  dragging  the  small  boats  over 
the  strip  of  land  between  the  river  and  the  bayou, 
and  all  went  fishing  or  hunting.  This  excursion 
was  one  that  I  am  likely  to  remember  forever. 
The  officers,  intent  on  their  fishing,  were  rowed 
slowly  through  the  thick  water,  while  I  was  won- 
dering to  myself  if  there  could  be,  anywhere,  such 
a  wild  jungle  of  vines  and  moss  as  hung  from  the 
trees  and  entangled  itself  in  the  mass  of  weeds 
and  water-plants  below.  We  followed  little  in- 
dentations of  the  stream,  and  the  boat  was  rowed 
into  small  bays  and  near  dark  pools,  where  the 
fish  are  known  to  stay,  and  finally  we  floated. 
The  very  limbs  of  the  trees  and  the  gnarled 
trunks  took  on  human  shape,  while  the  drooping 
moss  swayed  as  if  it  might  be  the  drapery  of  a 
lamia,  evolved  out  of  the  noisome  vapors  and 
floating  above  us.  These  fears  and  imaginings, 


ALLIGATORS. 


91 


which  would  have  been  put  to  flight  by  the  assur- 
ances of  the  General,  had  he  not  been  so  intent  on 
his  line,  proved  to  be  not  wholly  spectres  of  the 
imagination.  A  mass  of  logs  in  front  of  us  seemed 
to  move.  They  did  move,  and  the  alligator,  that 
looked  so  like  a  tree-trunk,  established  his  identity 
by  separating  himself  from  the  floating  timber  and 
making  off.  It  was  my  scream,  for  the  officers 
themselves  did  not  enjoy  thex  proximity  of  the 
beast,  that  caused  the  instant  use  of  the  oars  and 
a  quick  retreat. 

I  went  fishing  after  that,  of  course  ;  I  couldn't 
get  out  of  it. ;  indeed,  I  was  supported  through  my 
tremors  by  a  pleasure  to  which  a  woman  cannot 
be  indifferent  ;  that  of  being  wanted  on  all  sorts 
of  excursions.  But  logs  in  the  wrater  never  looked 
like  logs  after  that  ;  to  my  distended  vision  they 
appeared  to  writhe  with  the  slow  contortions  of 
loathsome  animals. 

A  soldier  captured  a  baby-alligator  one  day, 
and  the  General,  thinking  to  quiet  my  terror  of 
them  by  letting  me  see  the  reptile  "  close  to,"  as 
the  children  say,  took  me  down  to  camp,  where 
the  delighted  soldier  told  me  how  he  had  caught 
it,  holding  on  to  the  tail,  which  is  its  weapon. 
The  animal  was  all  head  and  tail ;  there  seemed 
to  be  no  intermediate  anatomy.  He  flung  the 
latter  member  at  a  hat  in  so  vicious  and  violent  a 


g  2  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

way,  that  I  believed  instantly  the  story,  which  I 
had  first  received  with  doubt,  of  his  rapping-  over 
a  puppy  and  swallowing  him  before  rescue  could 
come.  This  pet  was  in  a  long  tank  of  water  the 
owner  had  built,  and  it  gave  the  soldiers  much 
amusement. 

The  General  was  greatly  interested  in  alligator- 
hunting.  It  was  said  that  the  scales  were  as  thick 
as  a  china  plate,  except  on  the  head,  and  he  began 
to  believe  so  when  he  found  his  balls  glancing  off 
the  impenetrable  hide  as  if  from  the  side  of  an 
iron-clad.  I  suppose  it  was  very  exciting,  after 
the  officers  had  yelped  and  barked  like  a  dog,  to 
to  see  the  great  monster  decoyed  from  some  dark 
retreat  by  the  sound  of  his  favorite  tid-bit.  The 
wary  game  came  slowly  down  the  bayou,  under 
fire  of  the  kneeling  huntsmen  concealed  in  the 
underbrush,  and  was  soon  despatched.  For  my- 
self, I  should  have  preferred,  had  I  been  consulted, 
a  post  of  observation  in  the  top  of  some  tree,  in- 
stead of  the  boat  in  which  I  was  being  rowed. 


CHAPTER  III. 

MUTINY TRIAL    BY    COURT-MARTIAL A    MILITARY    EXE- 
CUTION  MARCHING      THROUGH     TEXAS FORAGING 

FOR    A    BED JOY    OVER     A    PILLOW EVERY     MAN 

HAS    HIS    PRICE FOUR     MONTHS     IN    A     WAGON 

LIFE    WITHOUT    A    LOOKING-GLASS. 

r  I  "HERE  was  a  great  deal  to  do  in  those  weeks 
of  our  detention  at  Alexandria,  during  the 
working  hours  of  the  day,  in  organizing  the 
division  of  cavalry  for  the  march.  Troops  that 
had  been  serving  in  the  West  during  the  war 
were  brought  together  at  that  point  from  all 
directions,  and  an  effort  was  made  to  form  them 
into  a  disciplined  body.  This  herculean  task 
gave  my  husband  great  perplexity.  He  wrote 
to  my  father  that  he  did  not  entirely  blame  the 
men  for  the  restlessness  and  insubordination  they 
exhibited,  as  their  comrades,  who  had  enlisted  only 
for  the  war,  had  gone  home,  and,  of  course,  wrote 
back  letters  to  their  friends  of  the  pleasures  of 
reunion  with  their  families  and  kindred,  and  the 
welcome  given  them  by  their  townspeople.  The 
troops  with  us  had  not  served  out  the  time  of 


9". 


94 


TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 


their  enlistment,  and  the  Government,  according 
to  the  strict  letter  of  the  law,  had  a  right  to  the 
unexpired  time  for  which  the  men  were  pledged. 
Some  of  the  regiments  had  not  known  the  smell 
of  gunpowder  during  the  entire  war,  having  been 
stationed  in  and  near  Southern  cities,  and  that 
duty  is  generally  demoralizing.  In  the  reorgan- 
izing of  this  material,  every  order  issued  was  met 
with  growls  and  grumbling.  It  seemed  that  it 
had  been  the  custom  with  some  of  their  officers  to 
issue  an  order,  and  then  go  out  and  make  a  speech, 
explaining  the  whys  and  wherefores.  One  of  the 
colonels  came  to  the  General  one  day  at  his  own 
quarters,  thinking  it  a  better  place  than  the  office 
to  make  his  request.  He  was  a  spectacle,  and 
though  General  Custer  was  never  in  after  years 
incautious  enough  to  mention  his  name,  he  could 
not,  with  his  keen  sense  of  the  ludicrous,  resist  a 
laughing  description  of  the  interview.  The  man 
was  large  and  bulky  in  build.  Over  the  breast  of 
a  long,  loose,  untidy  linen  duster  he  had  spread 
the  crimson  sash,  as  he  was  officer  of  the  day.  A 
military  sword-belt  gathered  in  the  voluminous 
folds  of  the  coat,  and  from  his  side  hung  a  parade 
sword.  A  slouch  hat  was  crowded  down  on  a 
shock  of  bushy  hair.  One  trouser-leg  was  tucked 
into  his  boot,  as  if  to  represent  one  foot  In  the 
cavalry;  the  other,  true  to  the  infantry,  was  down 


MILITAR  Y  SELF-GO VERNMENT. 


95 


in  its  proper  place.  He  began  his  interview  by 
praising1  his  regiment,  gave  an  account  of  the  suc- 
cess with  which  he  was  drilling  his  men,  and, 
leaning  confidentially  on  the  General's  knee,  told 

him  he  "  would  make  them  so near  like  reg- 

glers  you  couldn't  tell  'em  apart."  Two  officers 
of  the  regular  army  were  then  in  command  of 
the  two  brigades,  to  one  of  which  this  man's 
regiment  was  assigned.  But  the  object  of  the 
visit  was  not  solely  to  praise  his  regiment ;  he 
went  on  to  say  that  an  order  had  been  issued 
which  the  men  did  not  like,  and  he  had  come  up  to 
expostulate.  He  did  not  ask  to  have  the  order 
rescinded,  but  told  the  General  he  would  like  to 
have  him  come  down  and  give  the  reasons  to  the 
troops.  He  added  that  this  was  what  they  ex- 
pected, and  when  he  issued  any  command  he 
went  out  and  got  upon  a  barrel  and  explained  it 
to  the  boys.  My  husband  listened  patiently,  but 
declined,  as  that  manner  of  issuing  orders  was 
hardly  in  accordance  with  his  ideas  of  discipline. 
The  soldiers  did  not  confine  their  maledictions 
to  the  regular  officers  in  command ;  they  openly 
refused  to  obey  their  own  officers.  One  of  the 
colonels  (I  am  glad  I  have  forgotten  his  name) 
made  a  social  call  at  our  house.  He  was  in  great 
perturbation  of  mind,  and  evidently  terrified,  as 
in  the  preceding  night  his  dissatisfied  soldiers  had 


96  TEN7ING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

riddled  his  tent  with  bullets,  and,  but  for  his  "  lying* 
low  "  he  would  have  been  perforated  like  a  sieve. 
The  men  supposed  they  had  ended  his  military 
career ;  but  at  daylight  he  crept  out.  The  sol- 
diers were  punished  ;  but  there  seemed  to  be 
little  to  expect  in  the  way  of  obedience  if,  after 
four  years,  they  ignored  their  superiors  and  took 
affairs  into  their  own  hands.  Threats  began  to 
make  their  way  to  our  house.  The  staff  had  their 
tents  on  the  lawn  in  front  of  us,  and  even  they 
tried  to  persuade  the  General  to  lock  the  doors 
and  bolt  the  windows,  which  were  left  wide  open 
day  and  night.  Failing  to  gain  his  consent  to 
take  any  precautions,  they  asked  me  to  use  my 
influence  ;  but  in  such  affairs  I  had  little  success 
in  persuasion.  The  servants,  and  even  the  order- 
lies, came  to  me  and  solemnly  warned  me  of  the 
threats  and  the  danger  that  menaced  the  General. 
Thoroughly  frightened  in  his  behalf,  they  prefaced 
their  warnings  with  the  old-fashioned  sensational 
language:  ''This  night,  at  12  o'clock,"  etc.  The 
fixing  of  the  hour  for  the  arrival  of  the  assas- 
sin completely  unnerved  me,  as  I  had  not  then 
escaped  from  the  influence  that  the  melodramatic 
has  upon  youth.  I  ran  to  the  General  the  mo- 
ment he  came  from  his  office  duties,  to  tell  him, 
with  tears  and  agitation,  of  his  peril.  As  usual, 
he  soothed  my  fears,  but,  on  this  occasion,  only 


THREA  TS  AND  A  P.'STOL. 


97 


temporarily.  Still,  seeing*  what  I  suffered  from 
anxiety,  he  made  one  concession,  and  consented, 
after  much  imploring1,  to  put  a  pistol  under  his 
pillow.  A  complete  battery  of  artillery  round  our 
house  could  not  have  secured  to  me  more  peace 
of  mind  than  that  pistol ;  for  I  knew  the  accuracy 
of  his  aim,  and  I  had  known  too  much  of  his  cool, 
resolute  action,  in  moments  of  peril,  not  to  be  sure 
that  the  small  weapon  would  do  its  work.  Peace 
was  restored  to  the  head  of  our  house  ;  he  had  a 
respite  from  the  whimpering  and  begging".  I  even 
grew  so  courageous  as  to  be  able  to  repeat  to 
Eliza,  when  she  came  next  morning  to  put  the 
room  in  order,  what  the  General  had  said  to  me, 
that  "  barking  dogs  do  not  bite."  The  mattress 
was  proudly  lifted,  and  the  pistol,  of  which  I  stood 
in  awe,  in  spite  of  my  faith  in  its  efficacy,  was  ex- 
hibited to  her  in  triumph.  I  made  wide  detours 
around  that  side  of  the  bed  the  rest  of  the  time  we 
remained  at  Alexandria,  afraid  of  the  very  weapon 
to  which  I  was  indebted  for  tranquil  hours.  The 
cats,  pigs  and  calves  might  charge  at  will  under 
the  house.  If  I  mistook  them  for  the  approaching 
adversary  I  remembered  the  revolver  and  was 
calmed. 

Long  afterward,  during  our  winter  in  Texas,  my 
husband  began  one  day  to  appear  mysterious,  and 
assume  the  suppressed  air  that  invariably  prefaced 


98 


TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 


a  season  of  tormenting,  when  a  siege  of  questions 
only  brought  out  deeper  and  obscurer  answers 
to  me.  Pouting,  tossing  of  the  head,  and  reiter- 
ated announcements  that  I  didn't  care  a  rap,.  I 
didn't  want  to  know,  etc.,  were  met  by  chuckles 
of  triumph  and  wild  juba  patting  and  dancing 
around  the  victim  ;  unrestrained  by  my  saying  that 
such  was  the  custom  of  the  savage  while  torturing 
his  prisoner.  Still,  he  persisted  that  he  had  such 
a  good  joke  on  me.  And  it  certainly  was  :  there 
had  not  been  a  round  of  ammunition  in  the  house 
that  we  occupied  at  Alexandria,  neither  had  that 
old  pistol  been  loaded  during  the  entire  summer. 

The  soldiers  became  bolder  in  their  rebellion, 
insubordination  reached  a  point  where  it  was  al- 
most uncontrollable.  Reports  were  sent  to  Gen- 
eral Sheridan,  in  command  of  the  Department, 
and  he  replied  to  my  husband,  "  Use  such  sum- 
mary measures  as  you  deem  proper  to  overcome 
the  mutinous  disposition  of  the  individuals  in 
your  command."  A  Western  officer,  a  stranger 
to  us  up  to  that  time,  published  an  account  of  one 
of  the  regiments,  which  explains  what  was  not 
clear  to  us  then,  as  we  had  come  directly  from 
the  Army  of  the  Potomac: 

"  One  regiment  had  suffered  somewhat  from 
indifferent  field-officers,  but  more  from  the  bad 
fortune  that  overtook  so  many  Western  regiments 


INSUBORDINA  TION. 


99 


in  the  shape  of  garrison  duty  in  small  squads  or 
squadrons,  so  scattered  as  to  make  each  a  sort  of 
independent  command,  which  in  the  end  resulted 
in  a  loss  of  discipline,  and  the  ruin  of  those  bonds 
of  sympathy  that  bound  most  regiments  together. 
To  lead  such  a  regiment  into  a  hotly  contested 
fight  would  be  a  blessing,  and  would  effectually 
set  at  rest  all  such  trouble;  but  their  fighting  had 
been  altogether  of  the  guerrilla  kind,  and  there 
was  no  regimental  pride  of  character,  simply  be- 
cause there  had  been  no  regimental  deed  of  valor. 
Tired  out  with  the  long  service,  weary  with  an 
uncomfortable  journey  by  river  from  Memphis, 
sweltering  under  a  Gulf-coast  sun,  under  orders 
to  go  farther  and  farther  from  home  when  the 
war  was  over,  the  one  desire  was,  to  be  mustered 
out  and  released  from  a  service  that  became  irk- 
some and  baleful  when  a  prospect  of  crushing  the 
enemy  no  longer  existed.  All  these,  added  to 
the  dissatisfaction  among  the  officers,  rendered 
the  situation  truly  deplorable.  The  command 
had  hardly  pitched  their  tents  at  Alexandria  be- 
fore the  spirit  of  reckless  disregard  of  authority 
began  to  manifest  itself.  The  men,  singly  or  in 
squads,  began  to  go  on  extemporaneous  raids 
through  the  adjoining  country,  robbing  and 
plundering  indiscriminately  in  every  direction. 
They  seemed  to  have  no  idea  that  a  conquered 


100  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

and  subdued  people  could  possibly  have  any 
rights  that  the  conquerors  were  bound  to  respect. 
But  General  Custer  was  under  orders  to  treat  the 
people  kindly  and  considerately,  and  he  obeyed 
orders  with  the  same  punctiliousness  with  which 
he  exacted  obedience  from  his  command." 

The  anger  and  hatred  of  these  troops  toward 
one  especial  officer  culminated  in  their  peremp- 
tory demand  that  he  should  resign.  They  drew 
up  a  paper,  and  signed  their  names.  He  had  not 
a  friend,  and  sought  the  commanding  officer  for 
protection.  This  was  too  pronounced  a  case  of 
mutiny  to  be  treated  with  any  but  the  promptest, 
severest  measures,  and  all  who  had  put  their 
names  to  the  document  were  placed  under  arrest. 
The  paper  was  in  reality  but  a  small  part  of  the 
incessant  persecution,  which  included  threats  of 
all  kinds  against  the  life  of  the  hated  man  ;  but 
it  was  written  proof  that '  "  tements  regarding 
his  danger  were  true. 

All  but  one  of  those  that  were  implicated  apol- 
ogized, and  were  restored  to  duty.  A  sergeant 
held  out,  and  refused  to  acknowledge  himself  in 
the  wrong.  A  court-martial  tried  him,  and  he 
was  sentenced  to  death.  Those  who  had  been 
associated  in  the  rebellion  against  their  officer 
were  thoroughly  frightened,  and  seriously  grieved 
at  the  fate  to  which  their  romrade  had  been  con- 


JUSTICE  AND  MERCY.  IOI 

signed  by  their  uncontrollable  rage,  and  began  to 
speak  among  themselves  of  the  wife  and  children 
at  home.  The  wife  was  unconscious  that  the 
heartbreaking  revelations  were  on  their  way,  that 
the  saddest  of  woman's  sorrows,  widowhood,  was 
hers  to  endure,  and  that  her  children  must  bear  a 
tainted  name.  It  came  to  be  whispered  about  that 
the  doomed  man  wore  on  his  heart  a  curl  of 
baby's  hair,  that  had  been  cut  from  his  child's  head 
when  he  went  out  to  serve  his  imperiled  country. 
Finally,  the  wretched,  conscience-stricken  soldiers 
sued  for  pardon  for  their  condemned  companion, 
and  the  very  man  against  whom  the  enmity  had 
been  cherished,  and  who  owed  his  life  to  an 
accident,  busied  himself  in  collecting  the  name  of 
every  man  in  the  command,  begging  clemency 
for  the  imperiled  sergeant.  Six  days  passed,  and 
there  was  increased  misery  among  the  men,  who 
felt  themselves  responsible  for  their  comrade's 
life.  The  prayer  for  pardon,  with  its  long  roll  of 
names,  had  been  met  by  the  General  with  the 
reply  that  the  matter  would  be  considered. 

The  men  now  prepared  for  vengeance.  They 
lay  around  the  camp-fires,  or  grouped  themselves 
in  tents,  saying  that  the  commanding  officer 
would  not  dare  to  execute  the  sentence  of  the 
court-martial,  while  messages  of  this  kind 
reached  my  husband  in  cowardly,  roundabout 


102  TENTING  ON  TffE  PLAINS. 

ways,  and  threats  and  menaces  seemed  to  fill 
the  air.  The  preparation  for  the  sergeant's  exe- 
cution was  ordered,  and  directions  given  that  a 
deserter,  tried  by  court-martial  and  condemned, 
should  be  shot  on  the  same  day.  This  man,  a 
vagabond  and  criminal  before  his  enlistment,  had 
deserted  three  or  four  times,  and  his  sentence 
drew  little  pity  from  his  comrades.  At  last 
dawned  in  the  lovely  valley  that  dreadful  day, 
which  I  recall  now  with  a  shudder.  It  was  im- 
possible to  keep  me  from  knowing  that  an  execu- 
tion was  to  occur.  There  was  no  place  to  send 
me.  The  subterfuges  by  which  my  husband  had 
kept  me  from  knowing  the  tragic  or  the  sorrowful 
in  our  military  life  heretofore,  were  of  no  avail 
now.  Fortunately,  I  knew  nothing  of  the  peti- 
tion for  pardon  ;  nothing,  thank  God  !  of  the  wife 
at  her  home,  or  of  the  curl  of  baby's  hair  that 
was  rising  and  falling  over  the  throbbing,  ago- 
nized heart  of  the  condemned  father.  And  how 
the  capacity  we  may  have  for  embracing  the  sor- 
rows of  the  whole  world  disappears,  when  our 
selfish  terrors  concentrate  on  the  safety  of  our 
own  loved  ones ! 

The  sergeant's  life  was  precious  as  a  life  ;  but 
the  threats,  the  ominous  and  quiet  watching,  the 
malignant,  revengeful  faces  of  the  troops  about 
us,  told  me  plainly  that  another  day  might  darken 


COOLNESS  UNDER  DANGER.  103 

my  life  forever,  and  I  was  consumed  by  my  own 
torturing  suspense.  Rumors  of  the  proposed 
murder  of  my  husband  reached  me  through  the 
kitchen,  the  orderlies  about  our  quarters,  and  at 
last  through  the  staff.  They  had  fallen  into  the 
fashion  of  my  husband,  and  spared  me  anything 
that  was  agitating  or  alarming  ;  but  this  was  a 
time,  they  felt,  when  all  possible  measures  should 
be  taken  to  protect  the  General,  and  they  im- 
plored me  to  induce  him  to  take  precautions  for 
his  safety.  My  pleading  was  of  no  avail.  He 
had  ordered  the  staff  to  follow  him  unarmed  to 
the  execution.  They  begged  him  to  wear  his 
side-arms,  or  at  least  permit  them  the  privilege, 
in  order  that  they  might  defend,  him  ;  but  he 
resolutely  refused.  How  trivial  seem  all  attempts 
to  describe  the  agonies  of  mind  that  filled  that 
black  hour  when  the  General  and  his  staff  rode 
from  our  lawn  toward  the  dreaded  field  ! 

Eliza,  ever  thoughtful  of  me,  hovered  round 
the  bed,  where  I  had  buried  my  head  in  the  pil- 
lows, to  deaden  the  sound  of  the  expected  volley. 
With  terms  of  endearment,  and  soothing,  she 
sought  to  assure  me  that  nothing  would  happen 
to  the  General.  "  Nothin'  ever  does,  you  know, 
Miss  Libbie,"  she  said,  her  voice  full  of  the 
mother  in  us  all  when  we  seek  to  console.  And 
yet  that  woman  knew  all  the  plans  for  the  Gen- 


IO4  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

eral's  death,  all  the  venom  in  the  hearts  of  those 
who  surrounded  us,  and  she  felt  no  hope  for 
his  safety. 

Pomp  and  circumstance  are  not  alone  for 
"  glorious  war,"  but  in  army  life  must  also  be  ob- 
served in  times  of  peace.  There  are  good 
reasons  for  it,  I  suppose.  The  more  form  and 
solemnity,  the  deeper  the  impression  ;  and  as  this 
day  was  to  be  a  crucial  one,  in  proving  to  the  in- 
subordinate that  order  must  eventually  prevail, 
nothing  was  hurried,  none  of  the  usual  customs 
were  omitted.  Five  thousand  soldiers  formed  a  hol- 
low square  in  a  field  near  the  town.  The  staff,  ac- 
customed to  take  a  position  and  remain  with  their 
General  near  the  opening  left  by  the  division,  fol- 
lowed with  wonder  and  alarm  as  he  rode  slowly 
around  the  entire  square,  so  near  the  troops  that 
a  hand  might  have  been  stretched  out  to  deal  a 
fatal  blow.  The  wagon,  drawn  by  four  horses, 
bearing  the  criminals  sitting  on  their  coffins,  was 
driven  at  a  slow  pace  around  the  square,  escorted 
by  the  guard  and  the  firing-party,  with  reversed 
arms.  The  coffins  were  placed  in  the  centre  of 
the  square,  and  the  men  seated  upon  them  at  the 
foot  of  their  open  graves.  Eight  men,  with  livid 
countenances  and  vehemently  beating  hearts,  took 
their  places  in  front  of  their  comrades,  and  looked 
upon  the  blanched,  despairing  faces  of  those 


A  REPRIEVE. 

whom  they  were  ordered  to  kill.  The  provost- 
marshal  carried  their  carbines  off  to  a  distance, 
loaded  seven,  and  placed  a  blank  cartridge  in  the 
eighth,  thus  giving  the  merciful  boon  of  per- 
manent uncertainty  as  to  whose  was  the  fatal  shot. 
The  eyes  of  the  poor  victims  were  then  bandaged, 
while  thousands  of  men  held  their  breath  as  the 
tragedy  went  on.  The  still,  Southern  air  of  that 
garden  on  earth  was  unmoved  by  any  sound,  save 
the  unceasing  notes  of  the  mocking-birds  that 
sang  night  and  day  in  the  hedges.  Preparations 
had  been  so  accurately  made  that  there  was  but 
one  word  to  be  spoken,  after  the  reading  of  the 
warrant  for  execution,  and  that  the  last  that  those 
most  miserable  and  hopeless  of  God's  creatures 
should  hear  on  earth. 

There  was  still  one  more  duty  for  the  provost- 
marshal  before  the  fatal  word,  "  Fire  ! "  was  sound- 
ed. But  one  person  understood  his  movements  as 
he  stealthily  drew  near  the  sergeant,  took  his  arm, 
and  led  him  aside.  In  an  instant  his  voice  rang  out 
the  fatal  word,  and  the  deserter  fell  back  dead,  in 
blessed  ignorance  that  he  went  into  eternity  alone  ; 
while  the  sergeant  swooned  in  the  arms  of  the 
provost-marshal.  When  he  was  revived,  it  was 
explained  to  him  that  the  General  believed  him  to 
have  been  the  victim  of  undue  influence,  and  had 
long  since  determined  upon  the  pardon ;  but  some 


IO6  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

punishment  he  thought  necessary,  and  he  was  also 
determined  that  the  soldiers  should  not  feel  that 
he  had  been  intimidated  from  performing  his  duty 
because  his  own  life  was  in  peril.  It  was  ascer- 
tained afterward  that  the  sergeant's  regiment  had 
gone  out  that  day  with  loaded  carbines  and  forty 
rounds  besides  ;  but  the  knowledge  of  this  would 
have  altered  no  plan,  nor  would  it  have  induced 
the  commanding  officer  to  reveal  to  any  but  his 
provost-marshal  the  final  decision. 

Let  us  hope  that  in  these  blessed  days  of  peace 
some  other  tiny  curls  are  nestling  in  a  grand- 
father's neck,  instead  of  lying  over  his  heart  as 
did  the  son's  in  those  days,  when  memories  and 
mementoes  were  all  we  had  of  those  we  loved. 

General  Custer  not  only  had  his  own  Division 
to  organize  and  discipline,  but  was  constantly 
occupied  in  trying  to  establish  some  sort  of  har- 
mony between  the  Confederate  soldiers,  the  citi- 
zens, and  his  command.  The  blood  of  everyone 
was  at  boiling-point  then.  The  soldiers  had  not 
the  grief  of  returning  to  homes  desolated  by  war, 
because  Louisiana  escaped  much  and  Texas  all  of 
the  devastation  of  campaigns ;  but  they  came 
home  obliged  to  begin  the  world  again.  The 
negroes  of  the  Red-River  country  were  not  an 
easy  class  to  manage  in  days  of  slavery.  We 
heard  that  all  desperate  characters  in  the  border 


PERPLEXITIES  OF  DISCIPLINE. 


107 


States  had  been  sold  into  Louisiana,  because  of 
its  comparative  isolation,  and  that  the  most  ungov- 
ernable cases  were  congregated  in  the  valley  of 
the  Red  River.  However  that  may  have  been,  it 
certainly  was  difficult  to  make  them  conform  to 
the  new  state  of  affairs.  The  master,  unaccus- 
tomed to  freedom,  still  treated  the  negro  as  a 
slave.  The  colored  man,  inflated  with  freedom 
and  reveling  in  idleness,  would  not  accept  com- 
mon directions  in  labor.  How  even  the  South 
tolerates  a  name  that  it  once  hated,  in  the  pros- 
perity of  the  new  regime,  and  in  the  prospect  of 
their  splendid  future  !  How  fresh  the  enthusiasm 
in  the  present  day,  at  any  mention  of  the  liberator 
of  the  slaves ! 

But  when  we  consider  through  what  bungling 
errors  we  groped  blindly  in  those  early  days  of 
emancipation,  we  might  well  wish  that  Abraham 
Lincoln  could  have  been  spared  to  bring  his  jus- 
tice and  gentle  humanity  to  bear  upon  the  ad- 
justing of  that  great  transition  from  slavery  to 
freedom. 

At  the  least  intimation  of  a  "  show  "  or  a  funeral 
— which  is  a  festivity  to  them,  on  account  of  the 
crowds  that  congregate — off  went  the  entire  body 
of  men,  even  if  the  crops  were  in  danger  of  spoil- 
ing for  want  of  harvesting.  It  was  a  time  in  our 
history  that  one  does  not  like  to  look  back  upon. 


108  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

The  excitement  into  which  the  land  was  thrown, 
not  only  by  war,  but  by  the  puzzling  question  of 
how  to  reconcile  master  to  servant  and  servant  to 
master — for  the  colored  people  were  an  element 
most  difficult  to  manage,  owing  to  their  ignorance 
and  the  sudden  change  of  relations  to  their  former 
owners — all  this  created  new  and  perplexing 
problems,  which  were  the  order  of  each  day. 

The  Confederate  soldiers  had  to  get  their  blood 
down  from  fever  heat.  Some  took  advantage  of 
the  fact  that  the  war  was  over  and  the  Govern- 
ment was  ordering  its  soldiers  into  the  State,  not 
as  invaders  but  as  pacifiers,  to  drag  their  sabres 
through  the  street  and  talk  loudly  on  the  corners 
in  belligerent  language,  without  fear  of  the  im- 
prisonment that  in  war-times  had  so  quickly 
followed. 

The  General  was  obliged  to  issue  simultaneous 
orders  to  his  own  men,  demanding  their  observ- 
ance of  every  right  of  the  citizen,  and  to  the  re- 
turned Confederate  soldiers,  assuring  them  that 
the  Government  had  not  sent  troops  into  their 
country  as  belligerents,  but  insisting  upon  certain 
obligations,  as  citizens,  from  them. 

In  an  order  to  the  Division,  he  said  :  "  Numer- 
ous complaints  having  reached  these  headquarters, 
of  depredations  having  been  committed  by  per- 
sons belonging  to  this  command,  all  officers  and 


AN  ORDER  TO  THE  DIVISION. 


109 


soldiers  are  hereby  urged  to  use  every  exertion  to 
prevent  the  committal  of  acts  of  lawlessness, 
which,  if  permitted  to  pass  unpunished,  will  bring 
discredit  upon  the  command.  Now  that  the  war 
is  virtually  ended,  the  rebellion  put  down,  and 
peace  about  to  be  restored  to  our  entire  country, 
let  not  the  lustre  of  the  past  four  years  be  dim- 
med by  a  single  act  of  misconduct  toward  the 
persons  or  property  of  those  with  whom  we 
may  be  brought  in  contact.  In  the  future, 
and  particularly  on  the  march,  the  utmost 
care  will  be  exercised  to  save  the  inhabitants 
of  the  country  in  which  we  may  be  located 
from  any  molestation  whatever.  Every  violation 
of  the  order  regarding  foraging  will  be  punished. 
The  Commanding-General  is  well  aware  that  the 
number  of  those  upon  whom  the  enforcement  of 
this  order  will  be  necessary  will  be  small,  and  he 
trusts  that  in  no  case  will  it  be  necessary.  All 
officers  and  soldiers  of  this  command  are  ear- 
nestly reminded  to  treat  the  inhabitants  of  this  De- 
partment with  conciliation  and  kindness,  and  par- 
ticularly is  this  injunction  necessary  when  we  are 
brought  in  contact  with  those  who  lately  were  in 
arms  against  us.  You  can  well  afford  to  be  gen- 
erous and  magnanimous." 

In  another  order,  addressed  to  the  Confederate 
soldiers,  he  said  :     "  It  is  expected,  and  it  will  be 


1 1  o  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

required,  that  those  who  were  once  our  enemies, 
but  are  now  to  be  treated  as  friends,  will  in  return 
refrain  from  idle  boasts,  which  can  only  result  in 
harm  to  themselves.  If  there  still  be  any  who, 
blind  to  the  events  of  the  past  four  years,  con- 
tinue to  indulge  in  seditious  harangues,  all  such 
disturbers  of  the  peace  will  be  arrested,  and 
brought  to  these  headquarters." 

Between  the  troublesome  negroes,  the  unsub- 
dued Confederates,  and  the  lawless  among  our 
own  soldiers,  life  was  by  no  means  an  easy  prob- 
lem to  solve.  A  boy  of  twenty-five  was  then  ex- 
pected to  act  the  subtle  part  of  statesman  and 
patriot,  and  conciliate  and  soothe  the  citizen  ;  the 
part  of  stern  and  unrelenting  soldier,  punish- 
ing evidences  of  unsuppressed  rebellion  on  the 
part  of  the  conquered ;  and  at  the  same  time  the 
vigilant  commanding  officer,  exacting  obedience 
from  his  own  disaffected  soldiery. 

As  for  the  positions  he  filled  toward  the  negro, 
they  were  varied — counseling  these  duties  to 
those  who  employed  them,  warning  them  from 
idleness,  and  urging  them  to  work,  feeding  and 
clothing  the  impoverished  and  the  old.  It  seems 
to  me  it  was  a  position  combining  in  one  man 
doctor,  lawyer,  task-master,  father  and  provider. 
The  town  and  camp  swarmed  with  the  colored 
people,  lazily  lying  around  waiting  for  the  Gov- 


AN  ORDER  TO  THE  NEGROES.          \\\ 

ernment  to  take  care  of  them,  and  it  was  neces- 
sary to  issue  a  long  order  to  the  negroes,  from 
which  I  make  an  extract : 

"  Since  the  recent  advent  of  the  United  States 
forces  into  this  vicinity,  many  of  the  freedmen  of 
the  surrounding  country  seem  to  have  imbibed 
the  idea  that  they  will  no  longer  be  required  to 
labor  for  their  own  support  and  the  support  of 
those  depending  upon  them.  Such  ideas  cannot 
be  tolerated,  being  alike  injurious  to  the  interests 
and  welfare  of  the  freedmen  and  their  employers. 
Freedmen  must  not  look  upon  military  posts  as 
places  of  idle  resort,  from  which  they  can  draw 
their  means  of  support.  Their  proper  course  is 
to  obtain  employment,  if  possible,  upon  the  same 
plantations  where  they  were  previously  employed. 
General  Order  No.  23,  Headquarters  Department 
of  the  Gulf,  March  n,  1865,  prescribes  the  rules 
of  contract  in  the  case  of  these  persons.  The  com- 
ing crops,  already  maturing,  require  cultivation, 
and  will  furnish  employment  for  all  who  are  dis- 
posed to  be  industrious.  Hereafter,  no  freedman 
will  be  permitted  to  remain  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
camps  who  are  not  engaged  in  some  proper  em- 
ployment." 

Standing  alone  in  the  midst  of  all  this  confu- 
sion, and  endeavoring  to  administer  justice  on  all 
sides,  General  Custer  had  by  no  means  an  envia- 


112  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

ble  task.  I  do  not  wonder  now  that  he  kept  his 
perplexities  as  much  as  possible  from  me.  He 
wished  to  spare  me  anxiety,  and  the  romp  or  the 
gallop  over  the  fragrant  field,  which  he  asked  for 
as  soon  as  office-hours  were  over,  was  probably 
much  more  enjoyable  with  a  woman  with  uncor- 
rugated  brow.  Still,  I  see  now  the  puzzled  shake 
of  the  head  as  he  said,  "  A  man  may  do  every- 
thing to  keep  a  woman  from  knowledge  of  offi- 
cial matters,  and  then  she  gets  so  confounded 
keen  in  putting  little  trifles  together,  the  first 
thing  you  know  she  is  reading  a  man's  very 
thoughts."  Yet  it  does  not  strike  me  as  remark- 
able keenness  on  the  part  of  a  woman  if,  after  the 
experience  she  gains  in  following  the  bugle  a 
time,  and  with  her  wits  sharpened  by  affection, 
she  decides  that  a  move  is  about  to  take  place. 
The  General  used  to  turn  quickly,  almost  suspici- 
ously, to  me  and  say,  as  if  I  had  been  told  by  the 
staff,  "  How  did  you  find  out  we  were  ordered  to 
move  ? " — when  he  had  been  sending  for  the 
quartermaster  and  the  commissary,  and  looking 
at  his  maps,  for  ever  so  long  before  !  It  was  not 
much  of  a  mystery  to  solve  when  the  quarter- 
master meant  transportation,  the  commissary 

• 

food,  and  the  maps  a  new  route. 

After  determined  efforts  to  establish  discipline, 
order  began  to  be  evolved  out  of  the  chaos,  and 


AN  A  TTACK  ON  THE  AGED  113 

the  men  resigned  themselves  to  their  hard  fate. 
Much  as  I  feared  them,  and  greatly  as  I  had  resent- 
ed their  attempt  to  lay  all  their  present  detention 
and  compulsory  service  to  my  husband,  I  could 
not  but  agree  with  him  when  he  argued  for  them, 
that  it  was  pretty  hard  not  to  be  allowed  to  go 
home,  when  the  other  soldiers  had  returned  to 
receive  the  rewards  of  the  victorious.  They 
wrote  home  abusive  newspaper  articles,  which 
were  promptly  mailed  to  the  General  by  unknown 
hands,  but  of  which  he  took  no  notice.  I  recol- 
lect only  once,  after  that,  knowing  of  an  abso- 
lutely disagreable  encounter.  During  the  follow- 
ing winter  in  Texas,  my  husband  came  quickly 
into  our  room  one  morning,  took  my  riding-whip, 
and  returned  across  the  hall  to  his  office.  In  a 
short  time  he  as  quickly  returned,  and  restored  it 
to  its  place,  and  I  extracted  from  him  an  explana- 
tion. Among  the  newspaper  articles  sent  him 
from  the  North,  there  was  an  attack  on  his  dear, 
quiet,  unoffending  father  and  mother.  He  sent 
for  the  officer  who  was  credited  with  the  author- 
ship, and,  after  his  denial  of  the  -article,  told  him 
what  he  had  intended  to  do  had  he  been  guilty 
of  such  an  assault;  that  he  was  prepared  for  any  at- 
tack on  himself,  but  nothing  would  make  him  sub- 
mit to  seeing  his  gray-haired  parents  assailed.  Then 
he  bade  him  good-morning,  and  bowed  him  out. 


I  1 4  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

The  effect  of  the  weeks  of  discipline  on  the 
Division  was  visible  on  our  march  into  Texas.  The 
General  had  believed  that  the  men  would  eventual- 
ly conform  to  the  restrictions,  and  he  was  heartily 
relieved  and  glad  to  find  that  they  did.  The  Texans 
were  amazed  at  the  absence  of  the  lawlessness 
they  had  expected  from  our  army,  and  thankful 
to  find  that  the  Yankee  column  was  neither  de- 
vastating nor  even  injuring  their  hitherto  unmo- 
lested State,  for  the  war  on  land  had  not  reached 
Texas.  The  troops  were  not  permitted  to  live  on 
the  country,  as  is  the  usage  of  war,  and  only  one 
instance  occurred  during  the  entire  march,  of  a 
soldier's  simply  helping  himself  to  a  farmer's 
grain.  Every  pound  of  food  and  forage  was 
bought  by  the  quartermaster.  It  was  hard  to 
realize  that  the  column  marching  in  a  methodical 
and  orderly  manner  was,  so  short  a  time  before, 
a  lawless  and  mutinous  command. 

They  hated  us,  I  suppose.  That  is  the  penalty 
the  commanding  officer  generally  pays  for  what 
still  seems  to  me  the  questionable  privilege  of 
rank  and  power.  Whatever  they  thought,  it  did 
not  deter  us  from  commending,  among  ourselves, 
the  good  material  in  those  Western  men,  which  so 
soon  made  them  orderly  and  obedient  soldiers. 

But  I  have  anticipated  somewhat  and  must  go 
back  and  say  good-by  to  that  rich,  flower-scented 


PRIVILEGES  OUTNUMBER  HARDSHIPS.  115 

valley.  It  had  been  a  strange  experience  to  me. 
I  had  no  woman  but  Eliza  to  whom  I  could  speak. 
The  country  and  all  its  customs  seemed  like  an- 
other world,  into  which  I  had  unexpectedly 
entered.  I  had  spent  many  hours  of  anxiety  about 
my  husband's  safety.  But  the  anxiety,  heat,  mos- 
quitoes, poor  water,  alligators,  mutiny,  all  com- 
bined, failed  to  extract  a  complaint.  There  was 
not  an  atom  of  heroism  in  this  ;  it  was  undeniably 
the  shrewd  cunning  of  which  women  are  accused, 
for  I  lived  in  hourly  dread  of  being  sent  to  Texas 
by  the  other  route,  via  New  Orleans  and  the  Gulf 
of  Mexico.  The  General  had  been  advised  by 
letters  from  home  to  send  me  that  way,  on  the 
ground  that  I  could  not  endure  a  march  at  that 
season.  Officers  took  on  a  tone  of  superiority,  and 
said  that  they  would  not  think  of  taking  their 
wives  into  such  a  wilderness.  My  fate  hung  in 
the  balance,  and  under  such  circumstances  it  was 
not  strange  that  the  inconveniences  of  our  stay 
on  Red  River  were  not  even  so  much  as  ac- 
knowledged. It  is  true  that  I  was  not  then  a 
veteran  campaigner,  and  the  very  newness  of  the 
hardships  would,  doubtless,  have  called  forth  a 
few  sighs,  had  not  the  fear  of  another  separation 
haunted  me.  It  is  astonishing  how  much  grum- 
bling is  suppressed  by  the  fear  of  something  worse 
awaiting  you.  In  the  decision  which  direction  I 


1 1 6  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

was  to  take,  I  won ;  my  husband's  scruples  were 
overcome  by  my  unanswerable  arguments  and  his 
own  inclination. 

I  prepared  to  leave  Alexandria  with  regret,  for 
the  pleasures  of  our  stay  had  outnumbered  the 
drawbacks.  It  was  our  first  knowledge  that  the 
earth  could  be  so  lovely  and  so  lavishly  laden 
with  what  began,  to  be  tropical  luxuriance.  I  do 
not  recall  the  names  of  all  the  birds,  but  the 
throats  of  all  of  them  seemed  to  be  filled  with  song. 
In  a  semicircle  on  the  lawn  in  front  of  our  house, 
grew  a  thick  hedge  of  crape  myrtle,  covered  with 
fragrant  blossoms.  Here  the  mocking-birds  fear- 
lessly built  their  nests,  and  the  stillest  hour  of  the 
night  was  made  melodious  with  the  song  that  twi- 
light had  been  too  short  to  complete.  Really,  the 
summer  day  there  was  too  brief  to  tell  all  that 
these  birds  had  to  say  to  their  mates. 

To  the  General,  who  would  have  had  an  aviary 
had  it  been  just  the  thing  for  a  mounted  regiment, 
all  this  song,  day  and  night,  was  enchanting.  In 
after  years  he  never  forgot  those  midnight  sere- 
nades, and  in  1873  he  took  a  mocking-bird  into 
the  bleak  climate  of  Dakota.  Eliza  mildly  growled 
at  "sich  nonsense"  as  "toting  round  a  bird, when 
'twas  all  folks  like  us  could  do  to  get  transporta- 
tion for  a  cooking-kit."  Nevertheless,  she  took 
excellent  care  of  the  feathered  tribe  that  we  owned. 


A  LUXURIANT  VALLEY. 


117 


Among  the  fruits  we  first  ate  in  Louisiana  were 
fresh  figs,  which  we  picked  from  the  tree.  It  was 
something  to  write  home  about,  but  at  the  same 
time  we  wished  that  instead  we  might  have  a 
Northern  apple. 

The  time  came  to  bid  farewell  to  birds,  fruits, 
jasmine  and  rose,  and  prepare  for  a  plunge  into  the 
wilderness — much  talked  of  with  foreboding  pro- 
phecies by  the  citizens,  but  a  hundred  times  worse 
in  reality  than  the  gloomiest  predictions. 

It  was  known  that  the  country  through  which 
we  were  to  travel,  having  been  inaccessible  to 
merchants,  and  being  even  then  infested  with 
guerillas,  had  large  accumulations  of  cotton 
stored  at  intervals  along  the  route  that  was 
marked  out  for  our  journey.  Speculators  arrived 
from  New  Orleans,  and  solicited  the  privilege  of 
following  with  wagons  that  they  intended  to  load 
with  cotton.  They  asked  no  favors,  desiring  only 
the  protection  that  the  cavalry  column  would 
afford,  and  expected  to  make  their  way  in  our 
wake  until  the  seaboard  was  reached  and  they 
could  ship  their  purchases  by  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 
But  their  request  was  refused,  as  the  General 
hardly  thought  it  a  fitting  use  to  which  to  put  the 
army.  Then  they  assailed  the  quartermaster, 
offering  twenty-five  thousand  dollars  to  the  Gen- 
eral and  him,  as  a  bribe.  But  both  men  laughed 


1 1 8  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

to  scorn  that  manner  of  getting  rich,  and  returned 
to  their  homes  the  year  after  as  poor  as  when  they 
had  left  there  five  years  before.  As  I  think  of  the 
instances  that  came  under  my  knowledge,  when 
quartermasters  could  have  made  fortunes,  it  is  a 
marvel  to  me  that  they  so  often  resisted  all  man^ 
ner  of  temptation.  The  old  tale,  perhaps  dating 
back  to  the  War  of  1812,  still  applies,  as  it  is  a 
constantly  recurring  experience.  There  was  once 
a  wag  in  the  quartermaster's  department,  and 
even  when  weighted  down  with  the  grave  respon- 
sibility of  a  portion  of  the  Government  treasury, 
he  still  retained  a  glimmer  of  fun.  Contractors 
lay  in.  wait  for  him  with  bribes,  which  his  spirit  of 
humor  allowed  to  increase,  even  though  the  offers 
were  insults  to  his  honor.  Finally,  reaching  a 
very  large  sum,  in  sheer  desperation  he  wrote  to 
the  War  Department  :  "  In  the  name  of  all  the 
gods,  relieve  me  from  this  Department ;  they've 
almost  got  up  to  my  price."  Civilians  hardly 
realize  that,  even  in  times  of  peace  like  this,  when 
the  disbursements  will  not  compare  with  the 
money  spent  in  years  of  war,  between  eight  and 
nine  millions  of  dollars  are  yearly  paid  out  by  the 
quartermaster's  department  alone.  Since  the  war 
the  embezzlements  have  been  hardly  worthy  of  so 
serious  a  name,  amounting  to  but  a  few  hundred 
dollars,  all  told. 


A  SOLDIER'S  COURTESY.  I  Ig 

The  General  had  an  ambulance  fitted  up  as  a 
traveling-wagon  for  me  ;  the  seats  so  arranged 
that  the  leather  backs  could  be  unstrapped  at  the 
sides  and  laid  down  so  as  to  form  a  bed,  if  I 
wished  to  rest  during  the  march.  There  was  a 
pocket  for  my  needlework  and  book,  and  a  box 
for  luncheon,  while  my  traveling-bag  and  shawl 
were  strapped  at  the  side,  convenient,  but  out  of 
the  way.  It  was  quite  a  complete  little  house  of 
itself.  One  of  the  soldiers,  who  was  interested  in 
the  preparations  for  my  comfort,  covered  a  can- 
teen with  leather,  adding  of  his  own  accord,  in 
fine  stitchery  in  the  yellow  silk  used  by  the  sad- 
dlers, "  Lady  Ouster."  Each  day  of  our  journey 
this  lofty  distinction  became  more  and  more  in- 
congruous and  amusing,  as  I  realized  the  increas- 
ing ugliness,  for  which  the  rough  life  was,  in  a 
measure,  responsible.  By  the  time  we  reached 
the  end  of  our  march  there  was  a  yawning  gulf 
between  the  soldier's  title  and  the  appearance  of 
the  owner  of  the  canteen.  The  guide  that  had 
been  employed  was  well  up  in  all  the  devices  for 
securing  what  little  measure  of  comfort  was  to 
be  found  in  overland  travel.  I  followed  his  sug- 
gestion, and  after  the  canteen  was  filled  in  the 
morning,  it  was  covered  with  a  piece  of  wet 
blanket  and  hung,  with  the  cork  left  out,  to  the 
roof  of  the  wagon,  in  order  to  catch  all  the  air 


I  20  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

that  might  be  stirring.  Under  this  damp  treat- 
ment the  yellow  letters  of  "Lady  Custer"  faded 
out  as  effectually  as  did  all  semblance  of  what- 
ever delicacy  of  coloring  the  owner  once  pos- 
sessed. 

A  short  time  after  we  set  out,  we  left  the  valley 
of  the  Red  River,  with  its  fertile  plantations,  and 
entered  a  pine  forest  on  the  table-land,  through 
which  our  route  lay  for  a  hundred  and  fifty  miles. 
A  great  portion  of  the  higher  ground  was  sterile, 
and  the  forest  much  of  the  way  was  thinly  in- 
habited. We  had  expected  to  hire  a  room  in  any 
farm-house  at  which  we  halted  at  the  end  of 
each  day's  journey,  and  have  the  privilege  of 
sleeping  in  a  bed.  Camping  on  the  ground  was 
an  old  story  to  me  after  our  long  march  in  Vir- 
ginia ;  but,  with  the  prospect  of  using  the  bosom 
of  mother  Earth  as  a  resting-place  for  the  coming 
thirty  years,  we  were  willing  to  improve  any 
opportunity  to  be  comfortable  when  we  could. 
The  cabins  that  we  passed  on  the  first  day  dis- 
couraged us.  Small,  low,  log  huts,  consisting  of 
one  room  each,  entirely  separated  and  having  a 
floored  open  space  between  them,  were  the  cus- 
tomary architecture.  The  windows  and  doors 
were  filled  with  the  vacant  faces  of  the  filthy 
children  of  the  poor  white  trash  and  negroes. 
The  men  and  women  slouched  and  skulked 


"PORE  WHITE  TRASH."  I2i 

around  the  cabins  out  of  sight,  and  every  sign  of 
abject,  loathsome  poverty  was  visible,  even  in 
the  gaunt  and  famished  pigs  that  rooted  around 
the  doorway.  I  determined  to  camp  out  until  we 
came  to  more  inviting  habitations,  which,  I  regret 
to  say,  we  did  not  find  on  that  march.  We  had 
not  brought  the  thin  mattress  and  pillows  that 
had  been  made  for  our  traveling-wagon  in  Vir- 
ginia ;  but  the  hardest  sort  of  resting-place  was 
preferable  to  braving  the  squalor  of  the  huts 
along  our  way. 

My  husband  rolled  his  overcoat  for  my  pillow, 
telling  me  that  a  soldier  slept  like  a  top  with  such 
an  one,  and  it  was  much  better  than  a  saddle,  in 
the  hollow  of  which  he  had  often  laid  his  flaxen 
top-knot.  But  a  woman  cannot  make  herself  into 
a  good  soldier  all  in  a  minute.  If  one  takes  hold 
of  the  thick,  unwieldy  material  that  Uncle  Sam 
puts  into  the  army  overcoat,  some  idea  can  be 
gained  of  the  rocky  roll  it  makes  when  doing 
duty  as  a  resting-place  ;  and  anyone  whose  neck 
has  made  the  steep  incline  from  head  to  shoulder 
that  this  substitute  for  a  pillow  necessitates,  is  apt 
to  waken  less  patriotic  than  when  he  retired. 
After  repeated  efforts  to  get  accustomed  to  this, 
buoyed  up  by  my  husband's  praise  of  my  veteran- 
like  behavior,  I  confided  to  Eliza  that  I  should  not 
be  ungrateful  for  any  device  she  might  think  out 


I22  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

for  my  relief,  if  she  would  promise  not  to  tell  that 
I  had  spoken  to  her.  The  next  day  she  gathered 
moss  from  the  trees  along  the  stream,  and  I  felt 
that  I  could  serve  my  country  just  as  well  by  rest- 
ing on  this  soft  bed.  I  had  begged  off  from  using 
a  tent  in  that  country,  as  there  seemed  to  be  no 
insect  that  was  not  poisonous,  and  even  many  of 
the  vines  and  underbrush  were  dangerous  to 
touch.  My  husband  had  the  wagon  placed  in 
front  of  the  tent  every  night  when  our  march  was 
ended,  and  lifted  me  in  and  out  of  the  high  bed- 
room, where  I  felt  that  nothing  venomous  could 
climb  up  and  sting.  The  moss,  though  very  com- 
fortable, often  held  in  its  meshes  the  horned  toad, 
a  harmless  little  mottled  creature  that  had  two 
tiny  horns,  which  it  turned  from  side  to  side  in  the 
gravest,  most  knowing  sort  of  way.  The  officers 
sent  these  little  creatures  home  by  mail  as  curiosi- 
ties, and,  true  to  their  well-known  indifference  to 
air,  they  jumped  out  of  the  box  at  the  journey's  end 
in  just  the  same  active  manner  that  they  had  hop- 
ped about  under  our  feet.  Still,  harmless  as  they 
were  held  to  be,  they  were  not  exactly  my  choice 
as  bed-fellows,  any  more  than  the  lizards  the 
Texans  call  swifts,  which  also  haunted  the  tangles 
of  the  moss.  Eliza  tried  to  shake  out  and  beat  it 
thoroughly,  in  order  to  dislodge  any  inhabitants, 
before  making  my  bed.  One  night  I  found  that 


I23 


I  24  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

hay  had  been  substituted,  and  felt  myself  rich  in 
luxury.  I  remembered  gladly  that  hay  was  so 
clean,  so  free  from  all  natural  history,  and  closed 
my  eyes  in  gratitude.  And  then  it  smelt  so  good, 
so  much  better  than  the  damp,  vegetable  odor  of 
the  moss.  A  smudge  at  the  end  of  the  wagon 
was  rising  about  me  to  drive  away  mosquitoes, 
and  though  the  smoke  scalds  the  eyes  in  this 
heroic  remedy,  I  still  comforted  myself  with  the 
fresh  odor  of  the  hay,  and  quietly  thought  that 
life  in  a  manger  was  not  the  worst  fate  that  could 
come  to  one.  All  this  pervading  sense  of  comfort 
was  slightly  disturbed  in  the  night,  when  I  was 
awakened  by  a  munching  and  crunching  at  my 
ear.  Wisps  of  hay  were  lying  over  the  side  of  the 
wagon,  as  it  was  too  warm  to  leave  the  curtains 
down,  and  the  attraction  proved  too  much  for  a 
stray  mule,  which  was  quietly  eating  the  pillow 
from  under  my  head.  It  was  well  our  tent  and 
wagon  were  placed  to  one  side,  quite  off  by  them- 
selves, for  the  General  would  have  waked  the 
camp  with  his  peals  of  laughter  at  my  indignation 
and  momentary  fright.  It  did  not  need  much 
persuasion  to  rout  the  mule  after  all  the  hubbub 
my  husband  made  with  his  merriment,  but  I  found 
that  I  inclined  to  the  moss  bed  after  that. 

As  we  advanced  farther  into  the  forest,  Eliza 
received  further  whispered  confidences  about  my 


THE  L  UXUR  Y  OF  A  PILL  OW.  125 

neck,  stiff  and  sore  from  the  roll  of  patriotic  blue 
that  was  still  the  rest  for  my  tired  head,  and  she  re- 
solved to  make  an  attempt  to  get  a  feather  pillow. 
One  day  she  discovered,  near  our  camp,  a  house 
that  was  cleaner  than  the  rest  we  had  seen,  and 
began  negotiations  with  the  mistress.  She  offered 
a  "  greenback,"  as  we  had  no  silver  then  ;  but  they 
had  never  seen  one,  and  would  not  believe  that  it 
was  legal  money.  Finally,  the  woman  said  that, 
if  we  had  any  calico  or  muslin  for  sale,  she  would 
exchange  her  pillows  for  either  the  one  or  the 
other.  Eliza  forgot  her  diplomacy,  and  rather  in- 
dignantly explained  that  we  were  not  traveling 
pedlers.  At  last,  after  several  trips  to  and-  from 
our  camp,  in  which  I  was  secretly  interested,  she 
made  what  she  thought  a  successful  trade  by 
exchanging  some  blankets.  Like  the  wag's  de- 
scription of  the  first  Pullman-car  pillows,  which  he 
said  he  lost  in  his  ear,  they  were  diminutive  ex- 
cuses for  our  idea  of  \vhat  one  should  be,  but  I 
cannot  remember  anything  that  ever  impressed 
me  as  such  a  luxury;  and  I  was  glad  to  see  that, 
when  the  pillows  were  installed  in  their  place,  the 
faith  in  my  patriotism  and  in  my  willingness  to 
endure  privations  was  not  shaken. 

The  General  was  satisfied  with  his  soldiers,  and 
admired  the  manner  in  which  they  endured  the 
trials  of  that  hard  experience.  His  perplexities 


126  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

departed  when  they  took  everything  so  bravely. 
He  tried  to  arrange  our  marches  every  day  so  that 
we  might  not  travel  over  fifteen  miles.  So  far  as 
I  can  remember,  there  was  no  one  whose  temper 
and  strength  was  not  tried  to  the  uttermost,  except 
my  husband.  His  seeming  indifference  to  excessive 
heat,  his  having  long  before  conquered  thirst,  his 
apparent  unconsciousness  of  the  stings  or  bites  of 
insects,  were  powerful  aids  in  encountering  those 
suffocating  days.  Frequently  after  a  long  march, 
when  we  all  gasped  for  breath,  and  in  our  exhaus- 
tion flung  ourselves  down  "  anywhere  to  die,"  as 
we  laughingly  said,  a  fresh  horse  was  saddled,  and 
off  went  the  General  for  a  hunt,  or  to  look  up  the 
prospects  for  water  in  our  next  day's  journey.  If 
this  stifling  atmosphere,  to  which  we  were  daily 
subjected,  disturbed  him,  we  did  not  know  it.  He 
held  that  grumbling  did  not  mend  matters  ;  but  I 
differed  with  him.  I  still  think  a  little  complain- 
ing, when  the  patience  is  sorely  taxed,  eases  the 
troubled  soul,  though  at  that  time  I  took  good  care 
not  to  put  my  theory  into  practice,  for  reasons  I 
have  explained,  when  the  question  of  my  joining 
the  march  hung  in  the  balance. 

My  life  in  a  wagon  soon  became  such  an  old 
story  that  I  could  hardly  believe  I  had  ever  had  a 
room.  It  constantly  reminded  me  of  my  father. 
He  had  opposed  my  marrying  in  the  army,  as  I  sup- 


A  HOME  IN  A   WAGON. 


127 


pose  most  fond  fathers  do.  His  opposition  caused 
me  great  suspense,  and  I  thought,  as  all  the  very 
young  are  apt  to,  that  it  was  hopeless  misery.  Now 
that  the  struggle  was  ended,  I  began  to  recall  the 
arguments  of  my  parents.  Father's  principal  one, 
mindful  of  the  deprivations  he  had  seen  officers' 
wives  endure  in  Michigan's  early  days,  was  that, 
after  the  charm  and  dazzle  of  the  epaulet  had 
passed,  I  might  have  to  travel  "in  a  covered 
wagon  like  an  emigrant."  I  told  this  reason  of 
my  father's  to  my  husband,  and  he  often  laughed 
over  it.  When. I  was  lifted  from  my  rather  lofty 
apartment,  and  set  down  in  the  tent  in  the  dark — 
and  before  dawn  in  a  pine  forest  it  is  dark — the 
candle  revealed  a  twinkle  in  the  eye  of  a  man  who 
could  joke  before  breakfast.  "  I  wonder  what 
your  father  would  say  now,"  was  the  oft-repeated 
remark,  while  the  silent  partner  scrabbled  around 
to  get  ready  for  the  day.  There  was  always  a 
pervading  terror  of  being  late,  and  I  could  not 
believe  but  that  it  might  happen,  some  day,  that 
thousands  of  men  would  be  kept  waiting  because 
a  woman  had  lost  her  hair-pins.  Imagine  the 
ignominy  of  any  of  the  little  trifles  that  delay  us 
in  getting  ourselves  together,  being  the  cause  of 
detaining  an  expedition  in  its  morning  start  on 
the  march.  Fortunately,  the  soldiers  would  have 
been  kept  in  merciful  ignorance  of  the  cause  of 


1 28  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

the  detention,  as  a  commanding-  officer  is  not 
obliged  to  explain  why  he  orders  the  trumpeter  to 
delay  the  call  of  "  boots  and  saddles;"  but  the 
chagrin  would  have  been  just  as  great  on  the  part 
of  the  "  camp-follower,"  and  it  would  have  given 
the  color  of  truth  to  the  General's  occasional 
declaration  that  "  it  is  easier  to  command  a 
whole  division  of  cavalry  than  one  woman."  I 
made  no  protest  to  this  declaration,  as  I  had  ob- 
served, even  in  those  early  days  of  my  married 
life,  that,  in  matrimonial  experiences,  the  men  that 
make  open  statements  of  their  wrpngs  in  rather  a 
pompous,  boastful  way,  are  not  the  real  sufferers. 
Pride  teaches  subtlety  in  hiding  genuine  injuries. 
Though  I  had  a  continued  succession  of  frights, 
while  prowling  around  the  tent  before  day  hunting 
my  things,  believing  them  lost  sometimes,  and  thus 
being  thrown  into  wild  stampedes,  I  escaped  the 
mortification  of  detaining  the  command.  The 
Frenchman's  weariness  of  a  life  that  was  given 
over  to  buttoning  and  unbuttoning,  was  mine,  and 
in  the  short  time  between  reveille  and  breakfast,  I 
lived  through  much  perturbation  of  mind,  fearing 
I  was  behind  time,  and  devoutly  wished  that 
women  who  followed  the  drum  could  have  been 
clothed  like  the  feathered  tribe,  and  ready  for  the 
wing  at  a  moment's  notice.  On  this  expedition  I 
brought  down  the  art  of  dressing  in  a  hurry  to  so 


RECOMMENDA  TION  FOR  A  « ' CAMP  POLL 0  WER. »      129 

fine  a  point  that  I  could  take  my  bath  and  dress 
entirely  in  seven  minutes.  My  husband  timed  me 
one  day,  without  my  knowledge,  and  I  had  the 
honor  of  having  this  added  to  a  very  brief  list  of 
my  attributes  as  a  soldier.  There  was  a  second 
recommendation,  which  did  duty  as  a  mild  plaudit 
for  years  afterward.  When  faithful  soldiers  are 
discharged  after  their  term  of  service  has  expired, 
they  have  papers  given  them  by  the  Government, 
with  statements  of  their  ability  and  trustworthi- 
ness. Mine  consisted  in  the  words  usually  used 
in  presenting  me  to  a  friend.  Instead  of  referring 
to  a  few  meagre  accomplishments  which  my 
teachers  had  struggled  to  implant,  as  is  the  fash- 
ion of  some  exuberant  husbands,  who  proudly 
introduce  their  wives  to  intimate  friends,  the  Gen- 
eral usually  said,  "  Oh,  I  want  you  to  know  my 
wife  ;  she  slept  four  months  in  a  wagon.' 

Perhaps  some  people  in  the  States  may  not 
realize  that  army  women  have  a  hard  time  even 
in  saying  their  prayers.  The  closet  that  the  New 
Testament  tells  us  to  frequent  is  seldom  ours,  for 
rarely  does  our  frugal  Government  allow  us  one  in 
army  quarters  large  enough  to  crowd  in  our  few 
gowns,  much  less  to  "  enter  in  and  shut  the  door"; 
while  on  a  march  like  that  in  Texas,  devotions 
would  be  somewhat  disturbed  when  one  kneeled 
down  in  a  tent,  uncertain  whether  it  would  be  on 


130  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

a  centipede  or  a  horned  toad.  To  say  a  prayer 
undisturbed,  it  was  necessary  to  wait  until  one 
went  to  bed.  Fortunately,  mine  were  brief,  since 
I  had  nothing  to  ask  for,  as  I  believed  the  best  of 
everything  on  earth  had  already  been  given  to 
me.  If  I  was  tired,  and  fell  asleep  in  the  midst 
of  my  thanks,  I  could  only  hope  the  Heavenly 
Father  would  forgive  me.  I  was  often  so  ex- 
hausted at  night,  that  it  was  hard  to  keep  my  eyes 
open  after  my  head  had  touched  the  pillow,  espe- 
cially after  the  acquisition  of  the  blessed  feather 
pillow.  An  army  woman  I  love,  the  most  con- 
sistent and  honorable  of  her  sex,  was  once  so  worn 
out  after  a  day  of  danger  and  fatigue  on  a  march, 
that  she  fell  asleep  while  kneeling  beside  the  bed 
in  the  room  she  occupied,  saying  her  prayers  ;  and 
there  she  found  herself,  still  on  her  knees,  when 
the  sun  wakened  her  in  the  morning. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

MARCHES  THROUGH  PINE  FORESTS  -  OFFICERS  ATTACKED 
WITH  BREAK-BONE  FEVER  -  PROMISES  OF  BOLD  FLOW- 
ING STREAMS  -  INTRODUCTION  TO  THE  PINE-TREE 
RATTLESNAKE  -  SCORPIONS,  TARANTULAS,  CENTI- 
PEDES, CHIGGERS  AND  SEED-TICKS  -  CROSSING  THE 
PONTON  -  "  I  WENT  A-FISHING." 


exasperating  heat,  recommend  me  to  a 
pine  forest.  Those  tall  and  almost  branch- 
less Southern  pines  were  simply  smothering.  In 
the  fringed  tops  the  wind  swayed  the  delicate 
limbs,  while  not  a  breath  descended  to  us  below. 
We  fumed  and  fussed,  but  not  ill-naturedly,  when 
trying  to  find  a  spot  in  which  to  take  a  nap.  If  we 
put  ourselves  in  a  narrow  strip  of  shadow  made  by 
the  slender  trunk  of  a  tree,  remorseless  Sol  followed 
persistently,  and  we  drowsily  dragged  ourselves 
to  another,  to  be  pursued  in  the  same  determined 
manner  and  stared  into  instant  wakefulness  by  the 
burning  rays. 

The  General  had  reveille  sounded  at  2  o'clock 
in  the  morning,  causing  our  scamp  to  remark,  sotto 
voce,  that  if  we  were  to  be  routed  out  in  the  night,  he 


132  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

thought  he  would  eat  his  breakfast  the  evening 
before,  in  order  to  save  time.  It  was  absolutely 
necessary  to  move  before  dawn,  as  the  moment 
the  sun  came  in  sight  the  heat  was  suffocating.  It 
was  so  dark  when  we  set  out  that  it  was  with  diffi- 
culty we  reached  the  main  road,  from  our 
night's  camp,  in  safety.  My  husband  tossed  me 
into  the  saddle,  and  cautioned  me  to  follow  as 
close  as  my  horse  could  walk,  as  we  picked  our 
way  over  logs  and  through  ditches  or  underbrush, 
Custis  Lee  *  was  dog-like  in  his  behavior  at  these 
times.  He  seemed  to  aim  to  put  his  hoof  exactly 
in  the  foot-print  of  the  General's  horse.  In 
times  of  difficulty  or  moments  of  peril,  he  evident- 
ly considered  that  he  was  following  the  command- 
ing officer,  rather  than  carrying  me.  I  scarcely 
blamed  him,  much  as  I  liked  to  control  my  own 
horse,  and  gladly  let  the  bridle  slacken  on  his  neck 
as  he  cautiously  picked  his  circuitous  way;  but 
once  on  the  main  road,  the  intelligent  animal  al- 
lowed me  to  take  control  again.  Out  of  the  dark 
my  husband's  voice  came  cheerily,  as  if  he  were 
riding  in  a  path  of  sunshine  :  "  Are  you  all  right  ? " 
"  Give  Lee  his  head."  "  Trust  that  old  plug  of  yours 
to  bring  you  out  ship-shape."  This  insult  to  my 


*  My  horse  was  captured  from  a  staff-officer  of  General  Custis 
Lee  during  the  war,  purchased  by  my  husband  from  the  Govern- 
ment, and  named  for  the  Confederate  general. 


. 

THE  DEWS  OF  THE  SOUTH.  133 

splendid,  spirited,  high-stepping  F.  F.  V. — for  he 
was  that  among  horses,  as  well  as  by  birth — was 
received  calmly  by  his  owner,  especially  as  the 
sagacious  animal  was  taking  better  care  of  me  than 
I  could  possibly  take  of  myself,  and  I  spent  a  brief 
time  in  calling  out  a  defense  of  him  through  the 
gloom  of  the  forest.  This  little  diversion  was  in- 
dulged in  now  and  again  by  the  General,  to  pro- 
voke an  argument,  and  thus  assure  himself  that  I 
was  safe  and  closely  following  ;  and  so  it  went  on, 
before  day  and  after  dark  ;  there  was  no  hour  or 
circumstance  out  of  which  we  did  not  extract 
some  amusement. 

The  nights,  fortunately,  were  cool ;  but  such 
dews  fell,  and  it  was  so  chilly,  that  we  were  obliged 
to  begin  our  morning  march  in  thick  coats,  which 
were  tossed  off  as  soon  as  the  sun  rose.  The  dews 
drenched  the  bedding.  I  was  sometimes  sure  that 
it  was  raining  in  the  night,  and  woke  my  husband 
to  ask  to  have  the  ambulance  curtains  of  our  bed 
lowered  ;  but  it  was  always  a  false  alarm;  not  a 
drop  of  rain  fell  in  that  blistering  August.  I  soon 
learned  to  shut  our  clothes  in  a  little  valise  at 
night,  after  undressing  in  the  tent,  to  ensure  dry 
linen  in  the  penetrating  dampness  of  the  morning. 
My  husband  lifted  me  out  of  the  wagon  bedroom 
when  reveille  sounded,  into  the  tent,  and  by  the 
light  of  a  tallow  candle  I  had  my  bath  and  got 


134 


TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 


into  my  clothes,  combing  my  hair  straight  back,  as 
it  was  too  dark  to  part  it.  Then,  to  keep  my  shoes 
from  being  soaked  with  the  wet  grass,  I  was 
carried  to  the  dining-tent,  and  lifted  upon  my 
horse  afterward. 

One  of  my  hurried  toilets  was  stopped  short  one 
morning,  by  the  loss  of  the  waist  of  my  riding- 
habit.  In  vain  I  tossed  our  few  traps  about  to 
find  it,  and  finally  remembered  that  I  had  ex- 
changed the  waist  for  a  jacket,  and  left  it  under  a 
tree  where  we  had  been  taking  a  siesta  the  day 
before.  Eliza  had  brought  in  the  blanket,  books, 
and  hats,  but  alas  for  my  dress  body  !  it  was  hope- 
lessly lost.  In  a  pine  forest,  dark  and  thick  with 
fallen  trees,  what  good  did  one  tallow  dip  do  in 
the  hasty  search  we  made  ?  A  column  of  thou- 
sands of  men  could  not  be  detained  for  a  woman's 
gown.  My  husband  had  asked  me  to  braid  the 
sleeves  like  his  own  velvet  jacket.  Five  rows  of 
gilt  braid  in  five  loops  made  a  dash  of  color  that 
he  liked,  which,  though  entirely  out  of  place  in  a 
thoroughfare,  was  admissible  in  our  frontier  life. 
He  regretted  the  loss,  but  insisted  on  sending  for 
more  gilt  braid  as  soon  as  we  were  out  of  the 
wilderness,  and  then  began  to  laugh  to  himself 
and  wonder  if  the  traveler  that  came  after  us,  not 
knowing  who  had  preceded  him,  might  not  think 
he  had  come  upon  a  part  of  the  wardrobe  of  a  cir- 


THE  GUIDE  AND  HIS  MULE.  1 3  - 

cus  troupe.  It  would  have  been  rather  serious 
joking,  if  in  the  small  outfit  in  my  valise  I  had  not 
brought  a  jacket,  for  which,  though  it  rendered  me 
more  of  a  fright  than  sun  and  wind  had  made  me, 
I  still  was  very  thankful ;  for  without  the  happy 
accident  that  brought  it  along,  I  should  have  been 
huddled  inside  the  closed  ambulance,  waistless 
and  alone.  Our  looks  did  not  enter  into  the 
question  very  much.  All  we  thought  of  was,  how 
to  keep  from  being  prostrated  by  the  heat,  and 
how  to  get  rested  after  the  march,  for  the  next 
day's  task. 

We  had  a  unique  character  for  a  guide.  He 
was  a  citizen  of  Texas,  who  boasted  that  not  a 
road  or  a  trail  in  the  State  was  unfamiliar  to  him. 
His  mule  Betty  was  a  trial  ;  she  walked  so  fast 
that  no  one  could  keep  up  with  her,  but  not  faster 
did  she  travel  than  her  master's  tongue.  As  we 
rode  at  the  head  of  the  column,  the  sun  pouring 
down  upon  our  heads,  we  would  call  out  to  him, 
"  In  heaven's  name,  Stillman,  how  much  longer  is 
this  to  keep  up  ?"  meaning,  When  shall  we  find  a 
creek  on  which  to  camp  ?  "  Oh,  three  miles 
further  you're  sure  to  find  a  bold-flowin'  stream," 
was  his  confident  reply  ;  and,  sure  enough,  the 
grass  began  to  look  greener,  the  moss  hung  from 
the  trees,  the  pines  were  varied  by  beautiful 
cypress,  or  some  low-branched  tree,  and  hope 


136  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS, 

sprang  up  in  our  heart's.  The  very  horses  showed, 
by  quickening  step,  they  knew  what  awaited  us. 
Our  scorched  and  parched  throats  began  to  taste, 
in  imagination,  what  was  our  idea  of  a  bold-flow- 
ing stream  ;  it  was  cool  and  limpid,  dancing  over 
pebbles  on  its  merry  way.  We  found  ourselves  in 
reality  in  the  bed  of  a  dried  creek,  nothing  but 
pools  of  muddy  water,  with  a  coating  of  green 
mold  on  the  surface.  The  Custers  made  use  of 
this  expression  the  rest  of  their  lives.  If  ever  we 
came  to  a  puny,  crawling  driblet  of  water,  they 
said,  "  This  must  be  one  of  Stillman's  bold-flow- 
ing streams."  On  we  went  again,  with  that  fabri- 
cator calling  out  from  Betty's  back,  "  Sho'  to  find 
finest  water  in  the  land  five  miles  on  !"  Whenever 
he  had  "  been  in  these  parts  afore,  he  had  always 
found  at  all  seasons  a  roaring  torrent."  One  day 
we  dragged  through  forty  miles  of  arid  land,  and 
after  passing  the  dried  beds  of  three  streams,  the 
General  was  obliged  to  camp  at  last,  on  account 
of  the  exhausted  horses,  on  a  creek  with  pools  of 
muddy,  standing  water,  which  Stillman,  coming 
back  to  the  column,  described  as  "  rather  low." 
This  was  our  worst  day,  and  we  felt  the  heat  in- 
tensely, as  we  usually  finished  our  march  and 
were  in  camp  before  the  sun  was  very  high.  I  do 
not  remember  one  good  drink  of  water  on  that 
march.  When  it  was  not  muddy  or  stagnant,  it 


GENERAL  CUSTER  AS  A  CADET. 


'37 


138  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

? 

tasted  of  the  roots  of  the  trees.  Some  one  had 
given  my  husband  some  claret  for  me  when  we 
set  out,  and  but  for  that,  I  don't  really  know  how 
the  thirst  of  the  midsummer  days  could  have  been 
endured.  The  General  had  already  taught  him- 
self not  to  drink  between  meals,  and  I  was  trying 
to  do  so.  All  he  drank  was  his  mug  of  coffee 
in  the  early  morning  and  at  dinner,  and  cold 
tea  or  coffee,  which  Eliza  kept  in  a  bottle  for 
luncheon. 

The  privations  did  not  quench  the  buoyancy  of 
those  gay  young  fellows.  The  General  and  his 
staff  told  stories  and  sang,  and  a  man  with  good 
descriptive  powers  recounted  the  bills  of  fare  of 
good  dinners  and  choice  viands  he  had  enjoyed, 
while  wre  knew  we  had  nothing  to  anticipate  in 
this  wilderness  but  army  fare.  Sometimes,  as  we 
marched  along,  almost  melted  with  heat,  and  our 
throats  parched  for  water,  the  odor  of  cucumbers 
was  wafted  toward  us.  Stillman,  the  guide,  being 
called  on  for  an  explanation,  as  we  wondered  if 
we  were  Hearing  a  farm,  slackened  Betty,  waited 
for  us,  and  took  down  our  hopes  by  explaining 
that  it  was  a  certain  species  of  snake,  which  in- 
fested that  part  of  the  country.  The  scorpions, 
centipedes  and  tarantulas  were  daily  encountered, 
I  not  only  grew  more  and  more  unwilling  to  take 
my  nap,  after  the  march  was  over,  under  a  tree, 


ANIMA  TED  NA  TURE.  1 39 

but  made  life  a  burden  to  my  husband,  till  he 
gave  up  flinging  himself  down  anywhere  to  sleep, 
and  induced  him  to  take  his  rest  in  the  traveling 
wagon.  I  had  been  indolently  lying  outstretched 
in  a  little  grateful  shade  one  day,  when  I  was  hur- 
riedly roused  by  some  one,  and  moved  to  avoid 
what  seemed  to  me  a  small,  dried  twig.  It  was 
the  most  venomous  of  snakes,  called  the  pine-tree 
rattlesnake.  It  was  very  strange  that  we  all 
escaped  being  stung  or  bitten,  in  the  midst  of 
thousands  of  those  poisonous  reptiles  and  insects. 
One  teamster  died  from  a  scorpion's  bite,  and,  un- 
fortunately, I  saw  his  bloated,  disfigured  body  as 
we  marched  by.  It  lay  on  a  wagon,  ready  for 
burial,  without  even  a  coffin,  as  we  had  no  lumber. 
What  was  most  aggravating  were  two  pests  of 
that  region,  the  seed-tick  and  the  chigger.  The 
latter  bury  their  heads  under  the  skin,  and  when 
they  are  swollen  with  blood,  it  is  almost  impossible 
to  extract  them  without  leaving  the  head  imbedded. 
This  festers,  and  the  irritation  is  almost  unbear- 
able. If  they  see  fit  to  locate  on  neck,  face  or 
arms,  it  is  possible  to  outwit  them  in  their  prog- 
ress ;  but  they  generally  choose  that  unattainable 
spot  between  the  shoulders,  and  the  surgical  opera- 
tion of  taking  them  out  with  a  needle  or  knife- 
point, must  devolve  upon  some  one  else.  To  ride 
thus  with  the  skin  on  fire,  and  know  that  it  must 


140  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

be  endured  till  the  march  was  ended,  caused  some 
grumbling,  but  it  did  not  last  long.  The  enemy 
being  routed,  out  trilled  a  song  or  laugh  from 
young  and  happy  throats.  If  we  came  to  a  sandy 
stretch  of  ground,  loud  groans  from  the  staff  be- 
gan, and  a  cry,  "  We're  in  for  the  chiggers  ! "  was 
an  immediate  warning.  We  all  grew  very  wary 
of  lying  down  to  rest  in  such  a  locality,  but  were 
thankful  that  the  little  pests  were  not  venomous. 
There's  nothing  like  being  where  something  dan- 
gerous lies  in  wait  for  you,  to  teach  submission  to 
what  is  only  an  irritating  inconvenience. 

One  of  the  small  incidents  out  of  which  we  in- 
variably extracted  fun,  was  our  march  at  dawn 
past  the  cabins  of  the  few  inhabitants.  On  the 
open  platform,  sometimes  covered,  but  often  with 
no  roof,  which  connects  the  two  log  huts,  the 
family  are  wont  to  sleep  in  hot  weather.  There 
they  lay  on  rude  cots,  and  were  only  wakened  by 
the  actual  presence  of  the  cavalry,  of  whose  ap- 
proach they  were  unaware.  The  children  sat  up 
in  bed,  in  wide-gaping  wonder  ;  the  grown  people 
raised  their  heads,  but  instantly  ducked  under  the 
covers  again,  thinking  they  would  get  up  in  a  mo- 
ment, as  soon  as  the  cavalcade  had  passed.  From 
time  to  time  a  head  was  cautiously  raised,  hoping 
to  see  the  end  of  the  column.  Then  such  a  shout 
from  the  soldiers,  a  fusillade  of  the  wittiest  com- 


AN  ATTACK  OF  FEVER. 

ments,  such  as  only  soldiers  can  make — for  I  never 
expect  to  hear  brighter  speeches  than  issue  from 
a  marching  column — and  down  went  the  venture- 
some head,  compelled  to  obey  an  unspoken  mili- 
tary mandate  and  remain  "  under  cover."  There 
these  people  lay  till  the  sun  was  scorching  them, 
imprisoned  under  their  bed-clothes  by  modesty, 
while  the  several  thousand  men  filed  by,  two  by 
two,  and  the  long  wagon-train  in  the  rear  had 
passed  the  house. 

There  came  a  day  when  I  could  not  laugh  and 
joke  with  the  rest.  I  was  mortified  to  find  myself  ill 
— I,  who  had  been  pluming  myself  on  being  such 
a  good  campaigner,  my  desire  to  keep  well  being 
heightened  by  overhearing  the  General  boasting 
to  Tom  that  "  nothing  makes  the  old  lady  sick." 
We  did  not  know  that  sleeping  in  the  sun  in  that 
climate  brings  on  a  chill,  and  I  had  been  fright- 
ened away  from  the  snake-infested  ground,  where 
there  might  be  shade,  to  the  wagon  for  my  after- 
noon sleep.  It  was  embarrassing  in  the  extreme. 
I  could  neither  be  sent  back,  nor  remain  in  that 
wilderness,  which  was  infested  by  guerillas.  The 
surgeon  compelled  me  to  lie  down  on  the  march. 
It  was  very  lonely,  for  I  missed  the  laughter  and 
story  at  the  head  of  the  column,  which  had  light- 
ened the  privations  of  the  journey.  The  soil  was  so 
shallow  that  the  wagon  was  kept  on  a  continual 


142  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

joggle  by  the  roots  of  the  trees  over  which  we 
passed.    This  unevenness  was  of  course  not  notice- 
able on  horseback,  but  now  it  was  painfully  so  at 
every  revolution  of  the  wheels.     The  General  and 
Tom  came  back  to  comfort  me  every  now  and 
again,   while  Eliza  "  mammied "  and  nursed  me, 
and   rode   in   the   seat    by  the   driver.       It    was 
"  break-bone  fever."     No   one  knowing   about  it 
can  read  these  words  and  not  feel  a  shudder.     I 
believe  it  is  not  dangerous,  but  the  patient  is  intro- 
duced, in  the  most  painful  manner,  to  every  bone 
in  his  body.    Incredible  as  it  used  to  seem  when  in 
school  we  repeated  the  number  of  bones,  it  now  be- 
came no  longer  a  wonder,  and  the  only  marvel  was, 
how  some  of  the  smallest  on  the  list    could  con- 
tain so  large  an  ache.     I  used  to  lie  and  speculate 
how  one   slender  woman  could  possibly  conceal 
so  many    bones  under  the   skin.     Anatomy  had 
been  on  the  list  of  hated   books  in  school ;  but  I 
began  then  to  study  it  from  life,  in  a  manner  that 
made  it  likely  to  be  remembered.    The  surgeon,  as 
is  the  custom  of  the  admirable  men  of  that  profes- 
sion in  the  army,  paid  me  the  strictest  attention, 
and  I  swallowed  quinine,  it  seemed  to  me,  by  the 
spoonful.     As  I  had  never  taken  any  medicine  to 
speak  of,  it  did  its  duty  quickly,  and  in  a  few  days 
I  was  lifted  into  the  saddle,  tottering   and  light- 
headed, but  partly  relieved    from  the  pain,  and 


QUININE  AS  A  DIET.  143 

very  glad  to  get  back  to  our  military  family,  who 
welcomed  me  so  warmly  that  I  was  aglow  with 
gratitude.  I  wished  to  ignore  the  fact  that  I  had 
fallen  by  the  way,  and  was  kept  in  lively  fear  that 
they  would  all  vote  me  a  bother.  After  that,  my 
husband  had  the  soldiers  who  were  detailed  for 
duty  at  headquarters,  when  they  cut  the  wood  for 
camp-fires,  build  a  rough  shade  of  pine  branches 
over  the  wagon,  when  we  reached  camp.  Even 
that  troubled  me,  though  the  kind-hearted  fellows 
did  not  seem  to  mind  it  ;  but  the  General  quieted 
me  by  explaining  that  the  men,  being  excused  from 
night  duty  as  sentinels,  would  not  mind  building 
the  shade  as  much  as  losing  their  sleep,  and,  be- 
sides, we  were  soon  afterward  out  of  the  pine  for- 
est and  on  the  prairie. 

Our  officers  suffered  dreadfully  on  that  march, 
though  they  made  light  of  it,  and  were  soon  merry 
after  a  trial  or  hardship  was  over.  The  drenching 
dews  chilled  the  air  that  was  encountered  just  at 
daybreak.  They  were  then  plunged  into  a  steam 
bath  from  the  overpowering  sun,  and  the  impure 
water  told  frightfully  on  their  health.  I  have  seen 
them  turn  pale  and  almost  reel  in  the  saddle,  as 
we  marched  on.  They  kept  quinine  in  their  vest- 
pockets,  and  horrified  me  by  taking  large  quanti- 
ties at  any  hour  when  they  began  to  feel  a  chill 
coming  on,  or  were  especially  faint.  Our  brother 


144  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

Tom  did  not  become  quite  strong-,  after  nis  attack 
of  fever,  for  a  long  time,  and  had  inflammatory 
rheumatism  at  Fort  Riley  a  year  or  more  after- 
ward, which  the  surgeons  attributed  to  his  Texas 
exposure.  I  used  to  see  the  haggard  face  of  the 
adjutant-general.  Colonel  Jacob  Greene,  grow 
drawn  and  gray  with  the  inward  fever  that  filled 
his  veins  and  racked  his  bones  with  pain.  The 
very  hue  of  his  skin  comes  back  to  me  after  all 
these  years,  for  we  grieved  over  his  suffering, 
as'we  had  all  just  welcomed  him  back  from  the 
starvation  of  Libby  Prison. 

I  rode  in  their  midst,  month  after  month,  ever 
revolving  in  my  mind  the  question,  whence  came 
the  inexhaustible  supply  of  pluck  that  seemed 
at  their  command,  to  meet  all  trials  and  privations, 
just  as  their  unfaltering  courage  had  enabled  them 
to  go  through  the  battles  of  the  war  ?  And  yet, 
how  much  harder  it  was  to  face  such  trials,  unsup- 
ported by  the  excitement  of  the  trumpet-call  and 
the  charge.  There  was  no  wild  clamor  of  war  to 
enable  them  to  forget  the  absence  of  the  common- 
est necessities  of  existence.  In  Texas  and  Kansas, 
the  life  was  often  for  months  unattended  by  ex- 
citement of  any  description.  It  was  only  to  be 
endured  by  a  grim  shutting  of  the  teeth,  and  an 
iron  will.  The  mother  of  one  of  the  fallen  heroes  of 
the  Seventh  Cavalry,  who  passed  uncomplainingly 


FORTITUDE  OF  SOLDIERS. 


'45 


through  the  privations  of  the  frontier,  and  gave  up 
his  life  at  last,  writes  to  me  in  a  recent  letter  that 
she  considers  "  those  late  experiences  of  hardship 
and  suffering,  so  gallantly  borne,  by  far  the  most 
interesting  of  General  Ouster's  life,  and  the  least 
known."  For  my  part,  I  was  constantly  mystified 
as  I  considered  how  our  officers,  coming  from  all 
the  wild  enthusiasm  of  their  Virginia  life,  could,  as 
they  expressed  it,  ''buckle  down"  to  the  dull,  ex- 
hausting days  of  a  monotonous  march. 

Young  as  I  then  was,  I  thought  that  to  endure, 
to  fight  for  and  inflexibly  pursue,  a  purpose  or 
general  principle  like  patriotism,  seemed  to  require 
far  more  patience  and  courage  than  when  it  is 
individualized.  I  did  not  venture  to  put  my 
thoughts  into  words,  for  two  reasons :  I  was  too 
wary  to  let  them  think  I  acknowledged  there  were 
hardships,  lest  they  might  think  I  repented  having 
come  ;  for  I  knew  then,  as  I  know  now,  but  feared 
they  did  not,  that  I  would  go  through  it  all  a  hun- 
dred times  over,  if  inspired  by  the  reasons  that 
actuated  me.  In  the  second  place,  I  had  already 
found  what  a  habit  it  is  to  ridicule  and  make  light 
of  misfortune  or  vicissitude.  It  cut  me  to  the 
quick  at  first,  and  I  thought  the  officers  and  sol- 
diers lacking  in  sympathy.  But  I  learned  to  know 
what  splendid,  loyal  friends  they  really  were,  if 
misfortune  came  and  help  was  needed  ;  how  they 


146  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

denied  themselves  to  loan  money,  if  it  is  the  finan- 
cial difficulty  of  a  friend  ;  how  they  nursed  one 
another  in  illness  or  accident ;  how  they  quietly 
fought  the  battles  of  the  absent ;  and  one  occasion 
I  remember,  that  an  officer,  being  ill,  was  unable 
to  help  himself  when  a  soldier  behaved  in  a 
most  insolent  manner,  and  his  brother  officer 
knocked  him  down,  but  immediately  apologized 
to  the  captain  for  taking  the  matter  out  of  his 
hands.  A  hundred  ways  of  showing  the  most 
unswerving  fidelity  taught  me,  as  years  went  on, 
to  submit  to  what  I  still  think  the  deplorable  habit, 
if  not  of  ridicule,  of  suppressed  sympathy.  I  used 
to  think  that  even  if  a  misfortune  was  not  serious, 
it  ought  to  be  recognized,  and  none  were  afraid  of 
showing  that  they  possessed  truly  tender,  gen- 
tle, sympathetic  natures,  with  me  or  with  any 
woman  that  came  among  them. 

The  rivers,  and  even  the  small  streams,  in  Texas 
have  high  banks.  It  is  a  land  of  freshets,  and  the 
most  innocent  little  rill  can  rise  to  a  roaring  tor- 
rent in  no  time.  Anticipating  these  crossings,  we 
had  in  our  train  a  ponton  bridge.  We  had  to  make 
long  halts  while  this  bridge  was  being  laid,  and 
then,  oh !  the  getting  down  to  it.  If  the  sun  was 
high,  and  the  surgeon  had  consigned  me  to  the 
traveling-wagon,  I  looked  down  the  deep  gulley 
with  more7  than  inward  quaking.  My  trembling 


DESCENT  TO  A  RIVER. 

hands  clutched  wildly  at  the  seat,  and  my  head 
was  out  at  the  side  to  see  my  husband's  face,  as 
he  directed  the  descent,  cautioned  the  driver,  and 
encouraged  me.  The  brake  was  frequently  not 
enough,  and  the  soldiers  had  to  man  the  wheels, 
for  the  soil  was  wet  and  slippery  from  the  constant 
passing  of  the  pioneer  force,  who  had  laid  the 
bridge.  The  heavy  wagons,  carrying  the  boats 
and  lumber  for  the  bridge,  had  made  the  side-hill 
a  difficult  bit  of  ground  to  traverse.  The  four 
faithful  mules  apparently  sat  down  and  slid  to  the 
water's  edge ;  but  the  driver,  so  patient  with  my 
quiet  imploring  to  go  slowly,  kept  his  strong  foot 
on  the  brake  and  knotted  the  reins  in  his  power- 
ful hands.  I  blessed  him  for  his  caution,  and 
then  at  every  turn  of  the  wheel  I  implored  him 
again  to  be  careful.  Finally,  when  I  poured  out  my 
thanks  at  the  safe  transit,  the  color  mounted  in  his 
brown  face,  as  if  he  had  led  a  successful  charge. 
In  talking  at  night  to  Eliza,  of  my  tremors  as  we 
plunged  down  the  bank  and  were  bounced  upon 
the  ponton,  which  descended  to  the  water's  edge 
under  the  sudden  rush  with  which  we  came,  I 
added  my  praise  of  the  driver's  skill,  which  she 
carefully  repeated  as  she  slipped  him,  on  the  sly, 
the  mug  of  coffee  and  hot  biscuits  with  which  she 
invariably  rewarded  merit,  whether  in  officers  or 
men.  When  I  could,  I  made  these  descents  on 


148  TBNTfNG  OX  TffJS  PLAINS. 

horseback,  and  climbed  up  the  opposite  bank  with 
my  hands  wound  in  Custis  Lee's  abundant  mane. 

Eliza,  in  spite  of  her  constant  lookout  for  some 
variety  for  our  table,  could  seldom  find  any  vege- 
tables, even  at  the  huts  we  passed.  Corn  pone 
and  chine  were  the  principal  food  of  these  shift- 
less citizens,  butternut  colored  in  clothing  and 
complexion,  indifferent  alike  to  food  and  to  drink. 
At  the  Sabine  River  the  water  was  somewhat 
clearer.  The  soldiers,  leading  their  horses,  crossed 
carefully,  as  it  was  dangerous  to  stop  here,  lest  the 
weight  should  carry  the  bridge  under ;  but  they 
are  too  quick-witted  not  to  watch  every  chance  to 
procure  a  comfort,  and  they  tied  strings  to  their 
canteens  and  dragged  them  beside  the  bridge, 
getting,  even  in  that  short  progress,  one  tolerably 
good  drink.  The  wragon-train  was  of  course  a 
long  time  in  crossing,  and  dinner  looked  dubious 
to  our  staff.  Our  faithful  Eliza,  as  we  talk  over 
that  march,  will  prove  in  her  own  language,  better 
than  I  can  portray,  how  she  constantly  bore  our 
comfort  on  her  mind. 

"  Miss  Libbie,  do  you  mind,  after  we  crossed  the 
Sabine  River,  we  went  into  camp  ?  Well,  we 
hadn't  much  supplies,  and  the  wagons  wasn't  up ; 
so,  as  I  was  awaitin'  for  you  all,  I  says  to  the 
boys,  '  Now,  you  make  a  fire,  and  I'll  go  a-fishinV 
The  first  thing,  I  got  a  fish — well,  as  long  as  my 


ELIZA'S  FISH  STORY. 


149 


arm.  It  was  big,  and  jumped  so  it  scart  me,  and  I 
let  the  line  go,  but  one  of  the  men  caught  hold  and 
jumped  for  me  and  I  had  him,  and  went  to  work 
on  him  right  away.  I  cleaned  him,  salted  him, 
rolled  him  in  flour,  and  fried  him ;  and,  Miss 
Libbie,  we  had  a  nice  platter  of  fish,  and  the  Gen- 
eral was  just  delighted  when  he  came  up,  and  he 
was  surprised,  too,  and  he  found  his  dinner — for  I 
had  some  cold  biscuit  and  a  bottle  of  tea  in  the 
lunch-box — while  the  rest  was  awaitin'  for  the 
supplies  to  come  up.  For  while  all  the  rest  was 
awaitin',  I  went  fishin',  mind  you  !" 


CHAPTER  V. 

OUT  OF  THE  WILDERNESS OUR  CAMP  AT  HEMPSTEAD 

HOSPITALITY    OF   SOUTHERN    PLANTERS THE 

GENERAL'S  DEER-HUNTING — A  BAPTISM  OF  GORE — 

ESCAPE    FROM    BEING    BLOWN    UP    BY    POWDER 

ELIZA    ESTABLISHES    AN    ORPHAN    ASYLUM THE 

PROTECTING     CARE     THAT     OFFICERS     SHOW     TO 

WOMEN. 

A  S  we  came  out  of  the  forest,  the  country  im- 
proved somewhat.  The  farm-houses  began 
to  show  a  little  look  of  comfort,  and  it  occurred  to 
us  that  we  might  now  vary  the  monotony  of  our 
fare  by  marketing.  My  husband  and  I  sometimes 
rode  on  in  advance  of  the  command,  and  ap- 
proached the  houses  with  our  best  manners, 
soliciting  the  privilege  of  buying  butter  and  eggs. 
The  farmer's  wife  was  taking  her  first  look  at 
Yankees,  but  she  found  that  we  neither  wore 
horns  nor  were  cloven-footed,  and  she  even  so  far 
unbent  as  to  apologize  for  not  having  butter,  add- 
ing, what  seemed  then  so  flimsy  an  excuse,  that 
"  I  don't  make  more  than  enough  butter  for  our 
own  use,  as  we  are  only  milking  seven  cows 


150 


OUT  OF  THE  WILDERNESS.  \  5  t 

now."  We  had  yet  to  learn  that  what  makes  a 
respectable  dairy  at  home,  was  nothing  in  a  coun- 
try where  the  cows  give  a  cupful  of  milk  and  all 
run  to  horns.  It  was  a  great  relief  to  get  out  of 
the  wilderness,  but  though  our  hardships  were 
great,  I  do  not  want  them  to  appear  to  outnumber 
the  pleasures.  The  absence  of  creature  comforts 
is  easily  itemized.  We  are  either  too  warm  or  too 
cold,  we  sleep  uncomfortably,  we  have  poor  food, 
we  are  wet  by  storms,  we  are  made  ill  by  ex- 
posure. Happiness  cannot  be  itemized  so  readily; 
it  is  hard  to  define  wrhat  goes  to  round  and  com- 
plete a  perfect  day.  We  remember  hours  of  pleas- 
ure as  bathed  in  a  mist  that  blends  all  colors  into 
a  roseate  hue  ;  but  it  is  impossible  to  take  one  tint 
from  colors  so  perfectly  mingled,  and  define  how 
it  adds  to  the~perfect  whole. 

T.  The  days  now  seemed  to  grow  shorter  and 
brighter.  In  place  of  the  monotonous  pines,  we 
had  magnolia,  mulberry,  pecan,  persimmon  and 
live-oak,  as  well  as  many  of  our  own  Northern 
trees,  that  grew  along  the  streams.  The  cactus, 
often  four  feet  high,  was  covered  with  rich  red 
blossoms,  and  made  spots  of  gorgeous  color  in  the 
prairie  grass.  I  had  not  then  seen  the  enormous 
cacti  of  old  Mexico,  and  four  feet  of  that  plant 
seemed  immense,  as  at  home  we  labored  to  get 
one  to  grow  six  inches.  The  wild-flowers  were 


TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

charming  in  color,  variety  and  luxuriance,  The 
air,  even  then  beginning  to  taste  of  the  sea,  blew 
softly  about  us.  Stillman  no  longer  blackened  his 
soul  with  prophecies  about  the  streams  on  which 
we  nightly  pitched  our  tents.  The  water  did  flow 
in  them,  and  though  they  were  then  low,  so  that 
the  thousands  of  horses  were  scattered  far  up  and 
down  when  watering-time  came,  the  green  scum 
of  sluggish  pools  was  a  thing  of  the  past. 

A  few  days  before  we  reached  what  was  to  be 
a  permanent  camp,  a  staff-officer  rode  out  to  meet 
us,  and  brought  some  mail.  It  was  a  strange  sen- 
sation to  feel  ourselves  restored  by  these  letters  to 
the  outside  world.  General  Custer  received  a 
great  surprise.  He  was  brevetted  major,  lieuten- 
ant-colonel and  brigadier-general  in  the  regular 
army.  The  officers  went  off  one  side  to  read  their 
sweethearts'  letters ;  and  some  of  our  number  re- 
newed their  youth,  sacrificed  in  that  dreadful  for- 
est to  fever,  when  they  read  the  good  news  of  the 
coming  of  their  wives  by  sea.  At  Hempstead  we 
halted,  and  the  General  made  a  permanent  camp, 
in  order  to  recruit  men  and  horses  after  their  ex- 
hausting march.  Here  General  Sheridan  and  some 
of  his  staff  came,  by  way  of  Galveston,  and 
brought  with  them  our  father  Custer,  whom  the 
General  had  sent  for  to  pay  us  a  visit.  General 
Sheridan  expressed  great  pleasure  at  the  appear- 


COMMEND  A  TION  FROM  THE  CHIEF.  \  5  3 

ance  of  the  men  and  horses,  and  heard  with  relief 
and  satisfaction  of  the  orderly  manner  in  which 
they  had  marched  through  the  enemy's  country, 
of  how  few  horses  had  perished  from  the  heat, 
and  how  seldom  sunstroke  had  occurred.  He 
commended  the  General — as  he  knew  how  to  do  so 
splendidly — and  placed  him  in  command  of  all  the 
cavalry  in  the  State.  Our  own  Division  then 
numbered  four  thousand  men. 

I  was  again  mortified  to  have  to  be  compelled  to 
lie  down  for  a  day  or  two,  as  so  many  weeks  in  the 
saddle  had  brought  me  to  the  first  discovery  of  a 
spinal  column.  It  was  nothing  but  sheer  fatigue, 
for  I  was  perfectly  well,  and  could  laugh  and  talk 
with  the  rest,  though  not  quite  equal  to  the  effort 
of  sitting  upright,  especially  as  we  had  nothing 
but  camp-stools,  on  which  it  is  impossible  to  rest. 
Indisposition,  or  even  actual  illness,  has  less  ter- 
rors in  army  life  than  in  the  States.  We  were  not 
condemned  to  a  gloomy  upper  chamber  in  a  house, 
and  shut  in  alone  with  a  nurse  whom  we  had  never 
before  seen.  In  our  old  life,  ailing  people  lay  on  a 
lounge  in  the  midst  of  all  the  garrison,  who  were 
coming  and  going  a  dozen  times  a  day,  asking, 
"  How  does  it  go  now?"  and  if  you  had  studied  up 
anything  that  they  could  do  for  you  !  I  princi- 
pally recall  being  laid  up  by  fatigue,  because  of  the 
impetuous  assault  that  my  vehement  father  Custer 


TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

made  on  his  son  for  allowing  me  to  share  the  dis- 
comforts ;  and  when  I  defended  my  husband  by 
explaining  how  I  had  insisted  upon  coming,  he 
only  replied,  "  Can't  help  it  if  you  did.  Arm- 
strong, you  had  no  right  to  put  her  through  such 
a  jaunt."  It  was  amusing  to  see  the  old  man's 
horror  when  our  staff  told  him  what  we  had  been 
through.  It  would  have  appeared  that  I  was  his 
own  daughter,  and  the  General  a  son-in-law,  by 
the  manner  in  which  he  renewed  his  attack  on  the 
innocent  man.  Several  years  afterward  it  cost 
Lieutenant  James  Calhoun  long  pleading,  and  a 
probationary  state  of  two  years,  before  the  old 
man  would  consent  to  his  taking  his  daughter 
Margaret  into  the  army.  He  shook  his  gray  head 
determinedly,  and  said,  "  Oh,  no ;  you  don't  get 
me  to  say  she  shall  go  through  what  Libbie  has." 
But  the  old  gentleman  was  soon  too  busy  with  his 
own  affairs,  defending  himself  against  not  only 
the  ingenious  attacks  of  his  two  incorrigible  boys, 
but  the  staff,  some  of  whom  had  known  him  in 
Monroe.  His  eyes  twinkled,  and  his  face  wrinkled 
itself  into  comical  smiles,  as  he  came  every  morn- 
ing with  fresh  tales  of  what  a  "  night  of  it  he  had 
put  in."  He  had  a  collection  of  mild  vituperations 
for  the  boys,  gathered  from  Maryland,  Ohio  and 
Michigan,  where  he  had  lived,  which,  extensive  as 
the  list  was,  did  not,  in  my  mind,  half  meet  the 
situation. 


CAMP  A  T  HEMPSTEAD. 

The  stream  on  which  we  had  encamped  was 
wide  and  deep,  and  had  a  current.  Our  tents 
were  on  the  bank,  which  gently  sloped  to  the 
water.  We  had  one  open  a^>oth  ends,  over  which 
was  built  a  shade  of  pine  Doughs,  which  was  ex- 
tended in  front  far  enough  for  a  porch.  Some  lum- 
ber from  a  ponton  bridge  was  made  into  the  un- 
usual luxury  of  a  floor.  My  husband  still  indulged 
my  desire  to  have  the  traveling-wagon  at  the  rear, 
so  that  I  might  take  up  a  safe  position  at  night, 
when  sleep  interrupted  my  vigils,  over  the  insects 
and  reptiles  that  were  about  us  constantly.  The 
cook-tent,  with  another  shade  over  it,  was  near  us, 
where  Eliza  flourished  a  skillet  as  usual.  The  staff 
were  at  some  distance  down  the  bank,  while  the 
Division  was  stretched  along  the  stream,  having,  at 
last,  plenty  of  water.  Beyond  us,  fifty  miles  of 
prairie  stretched  out  to  the  sea.  We  encamped  on 
an  unused  part  of  the  plantation  of  the  oldest 
resident  of  Texas,  who  came  forth  with  a  welcome 
and  offers  of  hospitality,  which  we  declined,  as 
our  camp  was  comfortable.  His  wife  sent  me  over 
a  few  things  to  make  our  tent  habitable,  as  I  sup- 
pose her  husband  told  her  that  our  furniture  con- 
sisted of  a  bucket  and  two  camp-stools.  There's 
no  denying  that  I  sank  down  into  one  of  the  chairs, 
which  had  a  back,  with  a  sense  of  enjoyment  of 
what  seemed  to  me  the  greatest  luxury  I  had  ever 


156  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

known.  The  milk,  vegetables,  roast  of  mutton, 
jelly,  and  other  things  which  she  also  sent,  were 
not  enough  to  tempt  me  out  of  the  delightful  hol- 
low, from  which  I  thought  I  never  could  emerge 
again.  But  military  despots  pick  up  their  families 
and  carry  them  out  to  their  dinner,  if  they  refuse 
to  walk.  The  new  neighbors  offered  us  a  room 
with  them,  but  the  General  never  left  his  men. 
and  it  is  superfluous  to  say  that  I  thought  our 
clean,  new  hospital  tent,  as  large  again  as  a  wrall- 
tent,  and  much  higher,  was  palatial  after  the  trials 
of  the  pine  forest. 

The  old  neighbor  continued  his  kindness,  which 
was  returned  by  sending  him  game  after  the  Gen- 
eral's hunt,  and  protecting  his  estate.  He  had  owned 
130  slaves,  with  forty  in  his  house.  He  gave  us 
dogs  and  sent  us  vegetables,  and  spent  many  hours 
under  our  shade.  He  had  lived  under  eight  govern- 
ments in  his  Texas  experience,  and,  possibly,  the 
habit  of  "  speeding  the  parting  and  welcoming  the 
coming  guest "  had  something  to  do  with  his  hos- 
pitality. I  did  not  realize  how  Texas  had  been 
tossed  about  in  a  game  of  battle-door  and  shuttle- 
cock till  he  told  me  of  his  life  under  Mexican  rule, 
the  Confederacy,  and  the  United  States. 

I  find  mention,  in  an  old  letter  to  my  parents,  of 
a  great  luxury  that  here  appeared,  and  quote  the 
words  of  the  exuberant  and  much  underlined  girl 


ELIZA'S  LAUNDRY. 


157 


missive  :  "  I  rejoice  to  tell  you  that  I  am  the  happy 
possessor  of  a  mattress.  It  is  made  of  the  moss 
which  festoons  the  branches  of  all  the  trees  at  the 
South.  The  moss  is  prepared  by  boiling  it,  then 
burying  it  in  the  ground  for  a  long  time,  till  only 
the  small  thread  inside  is  left,  and  this  looks  like 
horse-hair.  An  old  darkey  furnished  the  moss  for 
three  dollars,  and  the  whole  thing  only  cost  seven 
dollars — very  cheap  for  this  country.  We  are 
living  finely  now;  we  get  plenty  of  eggs,  butter, 
lard  and  chickens.  Eliza  cooks  better  than  ever, 
by  a  few  logs,  with  camp-kettles  and  stew-pans. 
She  has  been  washing  this  past  week,  and  drying 
her  things  on  a  line  tied  to  the  tent-poles  and  on 
bushes,  and  ironing  on  the  ground,  with  her  iron- 
ing-sheet held  down  by  a  stone  on  each  corner. 
To-day  we  are  dressed  up  in  white.  She  invites 
us  to  mark  Sunday  by  the  luxury  of  wearing  white. 
'  Her  ole  miss  used  to.'  We  are  regulated  by  the 
doings  of  that  'ole  miss,'  and  I  am  glad  that 
among  the  characteristics  of  my  venerable  pre- 
decessor, which  we  are  expected  to  follow,  wear- 
ing white  gowns  is  included." 

Eliza,  sitting  here  beside  me  to-day,  has  just 
reminded  me  of  that  week,  as  it  was  marked  in  her 
memory  by  a  catastrophe.  Eliza's  misfortunes  were 
usually  within  the  confines  of  domestic  routine.  I 
quote  her  words:  "  It  was  on  the  Gros  Creek,  Miss 


TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

Libbie,  that  I  had  out  that  big  wash,  and  all  your 
lace-trimmed  things,  and  all  the  Ginnel's  white 
linen  pants  and  coats.  I  didn't  kno\v  nothin'  'bout 
the  high  winds  then,  but  I  ain't  like  to  forget  'em 
ever  again.  The  first  thing  I  knew,  the  line  was 
jest  lifted  up,  and  the  clothes  jest  spread  in  every 
direction,  and  I  jest  stood  still  and  looked  at  'em, 
and  I  says,  '  Is  this  Texas  ?  How  long  am  I  to  con- 
tend with  this  ? '  [With  hands  uplifted  and  a  camp- 
meeting  roll  in  her  eyes.]  But  I  had  to  go  to 
work  and  pick  'em  all  up.  Some  fell  in  the  sand, 
and  some  on  the  grass.  I  gathered  'em  all,  with 
the  sun  boiling  down  hot  enough  to  cook  an  egg. 
While  I  was  a-pickin'  'em  up,  the  Ginnel  was 
a-standin'  in  the  tent  entrance,  wipin'  down  his 
moustache,  like  he  did  when  he  didn't  want  us  to 
see  him  laughin'.  Well,  Miss  Libbie,  I  was  that  mad 
when  he  hollered  out  to  me,  '  Well,  Eliza,  you've 
got  a  spread-eagle  thar.'  Oh,  I  was  so  mad  and 
hot,  but  he  jest  bust  right  out  laughin'.  But  there 
wasn't  anything  to  do  but  rinse  and  hang  'em  up 
again." 

We  had  been  in  camp  but  a  short  time,  when  the 
daughter  of  the  newly  appointed  collector  of  the 
port  came  from  their  plantation  near  to  see  us. 
She  invited  me  to  make  my  home  with  them  while 
we  remained,  but  I  was  quite  sure  there  was  noth- 
ing on  earth  equal  to  our  camp.  The  girl's  father 


SOUTHERN  SWEETHEARTING. 


'59 


had  been  a  Union  man  during  the  war,  and  was 
hopelessly  invalided  by  a  long  political  imprison- 
ment. I  remember  nothing  bitter,  or  even  gloomy, 
about  that  hospitable,  delightful  family.  The 
young  girl's  visit  was  the  precursor  of  many  more, 
and  our  young  officers  were  in  clover.  There 
were  three  young  women  in  the  family,  and  they 
came  to  our  camp,  and  rode  and  drove  with  us, 
while  we  made  our  first  acquaintance  with  South- 
ern home  life.  The  house  was  always  full  of 
guests.  The  large  dining-table  was  not  long 
enough,  however,  unless  placed  diagonally  across 
the  dining-room,  and  it  was  sometimes  laid  three 
times  before  all  had  dined.  The  upper  part  of  the 
house  was  divided  by  a  hall  running  the  length  of 
the  house.  On  one  side  the  women  and  their 
guests,  usually  a  lot  ©f  rollicking  girls,  were  quar- 
tered, while  the  men  visitors  had  rooms  opposite  ; 
and  then  I  first  saw  the  manner  in  which  a  South- 
ern gallant  comes  courting  or  flirting.  He  rode  up 
to  the  house,  with  his  servant,  on  another  horse, 
carrying  a  portmanteau.  They  came  to  stay  sev- 
eral weeks.  I  wondered  that  there  was  ever  an  un- 
congenial marriage  at  the  South,  when  a  man  had 
such  a  chance  to  see  his  sweetheart.  This  was 
one  of  the  usages  of  the  country  that  our  North- 
ern men  adopted  when  they  could  get  leave  to  be 
absent  from  camp,  and  delightful  visits  we  all  had. 


I6O  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

It  seemed  a  great  privilege  to  be  again  with 
women,  after  the  long  season  in  which  I  had  only 
Eliza  to  represent  the  sex.  But  I  lost  my  presence 
of  mind  when  I  went  into  a  room  for  the  first  time 
and  caught  a  glimpse  of  myself  in  a  mirror.  The 
only  glass  I  had  brought  from  the  East  was  broken 
early  in  the  march,  and  I  had  made  my  toilet  by 
feeling.  The  shock  of  the  apparition  comes  back 
to  me  afresh,  and  the  memory  is  emphasized  by 
my  fastidious  mother's  horror  when  she  saw  me 
afterward.  I  had  nothing  but  a  narrow-brimmed 
hat  with  which  to  contend  against  a  Texas  sun. 
My  face  was  almost  parboiled,  and  swollen  with 
sunburn,  while  my  hair  was  faded  and  rough.  Of 
course,  when  I  caught  the  first  glimpse  of  myself 
in  the  glass,  I  instantly  hurried  to  the  General  and 
Tom,  and  cried  out  indignantly,  "  Why  didn't 
you  tell  me  how  horridly  I  looked  ?" — the  incon- 
sistent woman  in  me  forgetting  that  it  would  not 
have  made  my  ugliness  any  easier  to  endure.  My 
husband  hung  his  head  in  assumed  humility 
when  he  returned  me  to  my  mother,  six 
months  later ;  my  complexion  seemingly  hope- 
lessly thickened  and  darkened,  for,  though 
happily  it  improved  after  living  in  a  house,  it 
never  again  looked  as  it  did  before  the  Texas 
life.  My  indignant  mother  looked  as  if  her 
son-in-law  was  guilty  of  an  unpardonable  crime. 


HOSPITALITY  OF  PLANTERS.  \  6 1 

I  told  her,  rather  flippantly,  that  it  had  been 
offered  up  on  the  altar  of  my  country,  and  she 
ought  to  be  glad  to  have  so  patriotic  a  family, 
but  she  withered  the  General  with  a  look  that 
spoke  volumes.  He  took  the  first  opportunity  to 
whisper  condescendingly  that,  though  my  mother 
was  ready  to  disown  me,  and  quite  prepared  to 
annihilate  him,  he  would  endeavor  not  to  cast  me 
off  if  I  was  black,  and  would  try  to  like  me  "  not- 
withstanding all." 

The  planters  about  the  country  began  to  seek 
out  the  General,  and  invite  him  to  go  hunting  ;  and, 
as  there  was  but  little  to  do  while  the  command 
was  recruiting  from  the  march,  he  took  his  father 
and  the  staff  and  went  to  the  different  plantations 
where  the  meet  was  planned.  The  start  was  made 
long  before  day,  and  breakfast  was  served  at  the 
house  where  the  hunters  assembled  ;  dinner  being 
enjoyed  at  the  same  hospitable  board  on  the  re- 
turn at  night.  Each  planter  brought  his  hounds, 
and  I  remember  the  General's  delight  at  his  first 
sight  of  the  different  packs — thirty-seven  dogs  in 
all — and  his  enthusiasm  at  finding  that  every  dog 
responded  to  his  master's  horn.  He  thereupon 
purchased  a  horn,  and  practiced  in  camp  until  he 
nearly  split  his  cheeks  in  twain,  not  to  mention  the 
spasms  into  which  we  were  driven ;  for  his  five 
hounds,  presents  from  the  farmers,  ranged  them- 


I  62  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

selves  in  an  admiring  and  sympathetic  semicircle, 
accompanying  all  his  practicing  by  tuning  their 
voices  until  they  reached  the  same  key.  I  had  no 
idea  it  was  such  a  difficult  thing  to  learn  to  sound 
notes  on  a  horn.  When  we  begged  off  sometimes 
from  the  impromptu  serenades  of  the  hunter  and 
his  dogs,  the  answer  was,  "I  am  obliged  to  prac- 
tice, for  if  anyone  thinks  it  is  an  easy  thing  to  blow 
on  a  horn,  just  let  him  try  it."  Of  course  Tom 
caught  the  fever,  and  came  in  one  day  with  the 
polished  horn  of  a  Texas  steer  ready  for  action. 
The  two  were  impervious  to  ridicule.  No  detailed 
description  of  their  red,  distended  cheeks,  bulging 
eyes,  bent  and  laborious  forms,  as  they  strug- 
gled, suspended  the  operation.  The  early  stages 
of  this  horn  music  gave  little  idea  of  the  gay  pict- 
ure of  these  debonair  and  spirited  athletes,  as 
they  afterward  appeared.  When  their  musical 
education  was  completed,  they  were  wont  to  leap 
into  the  saddle,  lift  the  horn  in  unconscious  grace 
to  their  lips,  curbing  their  excited  and  rearing 
horses  with  the  free  hand,  and  dash  away  amidst 
the  frantic  leaping,  barking  and  joyous  demon- 
stration of  their  dogs. 

At  the  first  hunt,  when  one  of  our  number  killed 
a  deer,  the  farmers  made  known  to  our  officers,  on 
the  sly,  the  old-established  custom  of  the  chase. 
While  Captain  Lyon  stood  over  his  game,  volubly 


A  BAPTISM  OF  GORE.  1 6  ^ 

o 

narrating,  in  excited  tones,  how  the  shot  had  been 
sent  and  where  it  had  entered,  a  signal,  which  he 
was  too  absorbed  to  notice,  was  given,  and  the 
crowd  rushed  upon  him  and  so  plastered  him 
with  blood  from  the  deer  that  scarcely  an  inch  of 
his  hair,  hands  and  face  was  spared,  while  his  gar- 
ments were  red  from  neck  to  toes.  After  this 
baptism  of  gore,  they  dragged  him  to  our  tent  on 
their  return  to  exhibit  him,  and  it  was  well  that  he 
was  one  of  the  finest-hearted  fellows  in  the  world, 
for  day  and  night  these  pestering  fellows  kept  up 
the  joke.  Notwithstanding  he  had  been  subjected 
to  the  custom  of  the  country,  which  demands  that 
the  blood  of  the  first  deer  killed  in  the  chase  shall 
anoint  the  hunter,  he  had  glory  enough  through 
his  success  to  enable  him  to  submit  to  the  penalty. 
Tom  also  shot  a  deer  that  day,  but  his  glory  was 
dimmed  by  a  misfortune,  of  which  he  seemed  fated 
never  to  hear  the  last.  The  custom  was  to  place  one 
or  two  men  at  stated  intervals  in  different  parts 
of  the  country  where  the  deer  were  pretty  sure  to 
run,  and  Tom  was  on  stand  watching  through  the 
woods  in  the  direction  from  which  the  sound  of 
the  dogs  came.  As  the  deer  bounded  toward 
him,  he  was  so  excited  that  when  he  fired,  the  shot 
went  harmlessly  by  the  buck  and  landed  in  one 
of  the  General's  dogs,  killing  the  poor  hound  in- 
stantly. Though  this  was  a  loss  keenly  felt,  there 


1 64  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

was  no  resisting  the  chance  to  guy  the  hunter. 
Even  after  Tom  had  come  to  be  one  of  the  best 
shots  in  the  Seventh  Cavalry,  and  when  the  Gen- 
eral never  went  hunting  without  him,  if  he  could 
help  it,  he  continued  to  say,  "  Oh,  Tom's  a  good 
shot,  a  sure  aim — he's  sure  to  hit  something !  " 
Tom  was  very  apt,  also,  to  find  newspaper  clippings 
laid  around,  with  apparent  carelessness  by  his 
brother,  where  he  would  see  them.  For  example, 
like  this  one,  which  I  have  kept  among  some  old 
letters,  as  a  reminder  of  those  merry  days  :  "  An 
editor  went  hunting  the  other  day,  for  the  first 
time  in  twenty-two  years,  and  he  was  lucky  enough 
to  bring  down  an  old  farmer  by  a  shot  in  the  leg. 
The  distance  was  sixty-six  yards." 

We  had  long  and  delightful  rides  over  the  level 
country.  Sometimes,  my  husband  and  I,  riding 
quietly  along  at  twilight,  for  the  days  were  still  too 
warm  for  much  exercise  at  noon-time,  came  upon 
as  many  as  three  coveys  of  quail  scurrying  to  the 
underbrush.  In  a  short  walk  from  camp  he  could 
bag  a  dozen  birds,  and  we  had  plenty  of  duck  in 
the  creek  near  us.  The  bird  dog  was  a  perpetual 
pleasure.  She  was  the  dearest,  chummiest  sort  of 
house-dog,  and  when  we  took  her  out  she  still 
visited  with  us  perpetually,  running  to  us  every 
now  and  again  to  utter  a  little  whine,  or  to  have 
us  witness  her  tail,  which,  in  her  excitement  in 


RIDING  AS  A  PASTIME. 

rushing  through  the  underbrush,  cacti  and  weeds, 
was  usually  scratched,  torn  and  bleeding.  The 
country  was  so  dry  that  we  could  roam  at  will,  re- 
gardless of  roads.  Our  horses  were  accustomed 
to  fording  streams,  pushing  their  way  through 
thickets  and  brambles,  and  becoming  so  interested 
in  making  a  route  through  them  that  my  habit 
sometimes  caught  in  the  briars,  and  my  hat  was 
lifted  off  by  the  low-hanging  moss  and  branches; 
and  if  I  was  not  very  watchful,  the  horse  would 
go  through  a  passage  between  two  trees  just  wide 
enough  for  himself,  and  wipe  me  off,  unless  I 
scrambled  to  the  pommel.  The  greater  the  ob- 
stacles my  husband  encountered,  even  in  his  sports, 
the  more  pleasure  it  was  to  him.  His  own  horses 
were  so  trained  that  he  shot  from  their  backs  with- 
out their  moving.  Mine  would  also  stand  fire,  and 
at  the  report  of  a  gun,  behaved  much  better  than 
his  mistress. 

Eliza,  instead  of  finding  the  General  wearing 
his  white  linen  to  celebrate  Sunday,  according  to 
her  observances,  was  apt  to  get  it  on  week-days 
after  office-hours,  far  too  often  to  suit  her.  On 
the  Sabbath,  she  was  immensely  puffed  up  to  see 
him  emerge  from  the  tent,  speckless  and  spotless, 
because  she  said  to  me,  "  Whilst  the  rest  of  the 
officers  is  only  too  glad  to  get  a  white  shirt,  the 
Ginnel  walks  out  among  'em  all,  in  linen  from 


1 66  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

top  to  toe."  She  has  been  sitting  beside  me,  talk- 
ing over  a  day  at  that  time.  "  Do  you  mind,  Miss 
Libbie,  that  while  we  was  down  in  Texas  the 
Ginnel  was  startin'  off  on  a  deer-hunt,  I  jest  went 
up  to  him  and  tole  him,  '  Now,  Ginnel,  you  go  take 
off  them  there  white  pants.'  He  said  so  quiet, 
sassy,  cool,  roguish-like,  'The  deer  always  like 
something  white  ' — telling  me  that  jest  'cause  he 
wanted  to  keep  'em  on.  Well,  he  went,  all  the 
same,  and  when  he  came  back,  I  says,  *  I  don't 
think  the  deer  saw  you  in  those  pants.'  He  was 
covered  with  grass-stains  and  mud,  and  a  young 
fawn  swinging  across  the  saddle.  But  them  pants 
was  mud  and  blood,  and  green  and  yellow  blotches, 
from  hem  to  bindin'.  But  he  jest  laughed  at  me 
because  I  was  a-scoldin',  and  brought  the  deer 
out  to  me,  and  I  skinned  it  the  fust  time  I  ever 
did,  and  cooked  it  next  day,  and  we  had  a  nice 
dinner." 

At  that  time  Eliza  was  a  famous  belle.  Our  color- 
ed coachman,  Henry,  was  a  permanent  fixture  at  the 
foot  of  her  throne,  while  the  darkies  on  the  neigh- 
boring plantations  came  nightly  to  worship.  She 
bore  her  honors  becomingly,  as  well  as  the  fact 
that  she  was  the  proud  possessor  of  a  showy  out- 
fit, including  silk  dresses.  The  soldiers  to  whom 
Eliza  had  been  kind  in  Virginia,  had  given  her 
clothes  that  they  had  found  in  the  caches  where 


ESC  A  PE  FROM  AN  EX  PL  OSION.  1 6  7 

the  farmers  endeavored  to  hide  their  valuables 
during  the  war.  Eliza  had  made  one  of  these 
very  receptacles  for  her  "  ole  miss  "  before  she  left 
the  plantation,  and  while  her  conscience  allowed 
her  to  take  the  silken  finery  of  some  other  woman 
whom  she  did  not  know,  she  kept  the  secret  of  the 
hiding-place  of  her  own  people's  valuables  until 
after  the  war,  when  the  General  sent  her  home  in 
charge  of  one  of  his  sergeants  to  pay  a  visit. 
Even  the  old  mistress  did  not  know  the  spot  that 
Eliza  had  chosen,  which  had  been  for  years  a 
secret,  and  she  describes  the  joy  at  sight  of  her, 
and  her  going  to  the  place  in  the  field  and  dig- 
ging up  the  property  "  with  right  smart  of  money, 
too,  Miss  Libbie — enough,  with  that  the  Ginnel 
gave  me  to  take  home,  to  keep  'em  till  the  crops 
could  be  harvested." 

This  finery  of  Eliza's  drove  a  woman  servant  at 
the  next  place  to  plan  a  miserable  revenge,  which 
came  near  sending  us  all  into  another  world.  We 
were  taking  our  breakfast  one  morning,  with  the 
table  spread  under  th£Ta^ning  in  front  of  our  tent. 
The  air,  not  yet  heated  by  the  sun,  came  over  the 
prairie  from  the  sea.  The  little  green  swift  and 
the  chameleon,  which  the  General  had  found  in 
the  arbor  roof  and  tamed  as  pets,  looked  down 
upon  as  reposeful  and  pretty  a  scene  as  one  could 
wish,  when  we  suddenly  discovered  a  blaze  in  the 


1 68  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

cook-tent,  where  we  had  now  a  stove — but  Eliza 
shall  tell  the  story  :  "  When  I  fust  saw  the  fire, 
Miss  Libbie,  I  was  a-waitin'  on  you  at  breakfast. 
Then  the  first  thought  was  the  GinnePs  powder- 
can,  and  J  jest  dropped  everythin'  and  ran  and 
found  the  blaze  was  a-runnin'  up  the  canvas  of 
my  tent,  nearly  reachin'  the  powder.  The  can 
had  two  handles,  and  I  ketched  it  up  and  ran  out- 
side. When  I  first  got  in  the  tent,  it  had  burnt 
clar  up  to  the  ridge-pole  on  one  side.  Some  things 
in  my  trunk  was  scorched  mightily,  and  one  side 
of  it  was  pretty  well  burnt.  The  fire  was  started 
right  behind  my  trunk,  not  very  near  the  cook-stove. 
The  Ginnel  said  to  me  how  cool  and  deliberate  I 
was,  and  he  told  me  right  away  that  if  my  things 
had  been  destroyed,  I  would  have  everythin'  re- 
placed, for  he  was  bound  I  wasn't  going  to  lose 
nothin'." 

My  husband,  in  this  emergency,  was  as  cool 
as  he  always  was.  He  followed  Eliza  as  she  ran 
for  the  powder-can,  and  saved  the  tent  and  its  con- 
tents from  destruction,  and,  without  doubt,  saved 
our  lives.  The  noble  part  that  I  bore  in  the 
moment  of  peril  was  to  take  a  safe  position  in 
our  tent,  wring  my  hands  and  cry.  If  there 
was  no  one  else  to  rush  forward  in  moments  of  dan- 
ger, courage  came  unexpectedly,  but  I  do  not  recall 
much  brave  volunteering  on  my  part. 


HOSPITALITY  OF  THE  KITCHEN.  \  69 

Eliza  put  such  a  broad  interpretation  upon  the 
General's  oft-repeated  instruction  not  to  let  any 
needy  person  go  away  from  our  tent  or  quarters 
hungry,  that  occasionally  we  had  to  protest.  She 
describes  to  me  now  his  telling  her  she  was  carry- 
ing her  benevolence  rather  too  far,  and  her  reply- 
ing, "  Yes,  Ginnel,  I  do  take  in  some  one  once  and 
a  while,  of  and  on"  "  Yes,"  he  replied  to  me,  "  more 
on  than  off,  I  should  say."  "  One  chile  I  had  to  hide 
in  the  weeds  a  week,  Miss  Libbie.  The  Ginnel 
used  to  come  out  to  the  cook-tent  and  stand  there 
kinder  careless  like,  and  he  would  spy  a  little  path 
running  out  into  the  weeds.  Well,  he  used  to  carry 
me  high  and  dry  about  them  little  roads  leading 
off  to  folks  he  said  I  was  a-feedin'.  I  would  say, 
when  I  saw  him  lookin'  at  the  little  path  in  the 
weeds,  'Well,  what  is  it,  Ginnel  ?'  He  would  look 
at  me  so  keen-like  out  of  his  eyes,  and  say,  '  That's 
what  /  say.'  Then  he'd  say  he  was  goin'  to  get  a 
couple  of  bloodhounds,  and  run  'em  through  the 
bushes  to  find  out  just  how  many  I  was  a-feedin'. 
Then,  Miss  Libbie,  we  never  did  come  to  a  brush 
or  a  thicket  but  that  he  would  look  around  at  me 
so  kinder  sly  like,  and  tell  me  that  would  be  a  fust- 
rate  ranch  for  me.  Then  I  would  say,  'Well,  it's 
a  good  thing  I  do  have  somebody  sometimes, 
'cause  my  cook-tent  is  allus'  stuck  way  off  by  itself, 
and  its  lonesome,  and  sometimes  I'm  so  scart.' 


I  70  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

"  But  you  know,  Miss  Libbie,"  she  added,  afraid 
that  I  might  think  she  reflected  on  one  whose 
memory  she  reveres,  "  my  tent  was  obliged  to  be  a 
good  bit  off,  'cause  the  smell  of  the  cookin'  took 
away  the  GinnePs  appetite  ;  he  was  so  uncertain 
like  in  his  eatin',  you  remember." 

In  Texas,  two  wretched  little  ragamuffins  -  one 
of  the  poor  white  trash  and  another  a  negro—  -were 
kept  skulking  about  the  cook-tent,  making  long, 
circuitous  detours  to  the  creek  for  water,  for  fear 
we  would  see  them,  as  they  said  "  Miss  Lize 
tole  us  you'd  make  a  scatter  if  you  knew  '  no 
count '  chillern  was  a-bein'  fed  at  the  cook-tent." 
They  slipped  into  the  underbrush  at  our  approach, 
and  lay  low  in  the  grass  at  the  rear  of  the  tent  if 
they  heard  our  voices.  The  General  at  first  thought 
that,  after  Eliza  had  thoroughly  stuffed  them  and 
made  them  fetch  and  carry  for  her,  they  would 
disappear,  and  so  chose  to  ignore  their  presence, 
pretending  he  had  not  seen  them.  But  at  last  they 
appeared  to  be  a  permanent  addition,  and  we  con- 
cluded that  the  best  plan  would  be  to  acknowledge 
their  presence  and  make  the  best  of  the  infliction  ; 
so  we  named  one  Texas,  and  the  other  Jeff.  Eliza 
beamed,  and  told  the  orphans,  who  capered  out 
boldly  in  sight  for  the  first  time,  and  ran  after 
Miss  "  Lize  "  to  do  her  bidding.  Both  of  them, 
from  being  starved,  wretched,  and  dull,  grew  quite 


OUR  BUNKIES. 


171 


"  peart  "  under  her  good  care.     The  first  evidence 
of  gratitude  I  had  was  the  creeping  into  the  tent  of 


the  little  saffron-colored 
white  boy,  with  downcast 
eyes,  mumbling  that  "Miss 
Lize  said  that  I  could  pick 
the  scorpions  out  of  your 
shoes."  I  asked,  in  wonder 
— one  spark  of  generosity 
blazing  up  before  its  final 
obliteration — "And  how  in 
the  name  of  mercy  do  you 
get  on  with  the  things  your- 
self ?"  He  lifted  up  a  di- 
minutive heel,  and  proudly  showed  me  a  scar. 
The  boy  had  probably  never  had  on  a  pair 


172  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

of  shoes ;  consequently  this  part  of  his  pedal 
extremity  was  absolutely  so  callous,  so  evidently 
obdurate  to  any  object  less  penetrating  than  a 
sharpened  spike  driven  in  with  a  hammer,  I  found 
myself  wondering  how  a  scorpion's  little  spear 
could  have  effected  an  entrance  through  the 
seemingly  impervious  outer  cuticle.  Finally,  I 
concluded  that  at  a  more  tender  age  that  "too 
solid  flesh  "  may  have  been  susceptible  to  an  "  hon- 
orable wound."  It  turned  out  that  this  cowed  and 
apparently  lifeless  little  midget  was  perfectly  in- 
different to  scorpions.  By  this  time,  I  no  longer 
pretended  to  courage  of  any  sort  ;  I  had  found 
one  in  my  trunk,  and  if,  after  that,  I  was  com- 
pelled to  go  to  it,  I  flung  up  the  lid,  ran  to  the 
other  side  of  the  tent,  and  "  shoo-shooed  "  with  that 
eminently  senseless  feminine  call  which  is  used 
alike  for  cows,  geese,  or  any  of  these  acknowledged 
foes.  Doubtless  a  bear  would  be  greeted  with 
the  same  word,  until  the  supposed  occupants  had 
run  off.  Night  and  morning  my  husband  shook 
and  beat  my  clothes  while  he  helped  me  to  dress. 
The  officers  daily  came  in  with  stories  of  the 
trick,  so  common  to  the  venomous  reptiles,  of  hid- 
ing between  the  sheets,  and  the  General  then  even 
shook  the  bedding  in  our  eyrie  bedroom.  Of  all 
this  he  was  relieved  by  the  boy  that  Eliza  called 
"  poor  little  picked  sparrow,"  who  was  appointed 


THE  BITE  OF  A  CENTIPEDE. 


173 


as  my  maid.  Night  and  morning  the  yellow  dot 
ran  his  hands  into  shoes,  stockings,  night-gown, 
and  dress-sleeves,  in  all  the  places  where  the  scor- 
pions love  to  lurk  ;  and  I  bravely  and  generously 
gathered  myself  into  the  armchair  while  the 
search  went  on. 

Eliza  has  been  reminding  me  of  our  daily  terror 
of  the  creeping,  venomous  enemy  of  those  hot 
lands.  She  says,  "  One  day,  Miss  Libbie,  I  got  a 
bite,  and  I  squalled  out  to  the  Ginnel,  '  Somethin's 
bit  me  ! '  The  Ginnel,  he  said,  '  Bit  you  !  bit  you 
whar  ? '  I  says  '  On  my  arm; '  and,  Miss  Libbie,  it 
was  pizen,  for  my  arm  it  just  swelled  enormous 
and  got  all  up  in  lumps.  Then  it  pained  me  so 
the  Ginnel  stopped  a-laughin'  and  sent  for  the 
doctor,  and  he  giv'  me  a  drink  of  whisky.  Then 
what  do  you  think  !  when  I  got  better,  didn't  he  go 
and  say  I  was  playin'  off  on  him,  just  to  get  a 
big  drink  of  whisky.  But  I  clar'  to  you,  Miss 
Libbie,  I  was  bad  off  that  night.  The  centipede 
had  crept  into  my  bedclothes,  and  got  a  good 
chance  at  me,  I  can  tell  you." 

Our  surgeon  was  a  naturalist,  and  studied  up 
the  vipers  and  venomous  insects  of  that  almost 
tropical  land.  He  showed  me  a  captured  scorpion 
one  day,  and,  to  make  me  more  vigilant,  infuriated 
the  loathsome  creature  till  it  flung  its  javelin  of 
a  tail  over  on  its  back  and  stung  itself  to  death. 


174 


TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 


Legends  of  what  had  happened  to  army  women 
who  had  disregarded  the  injunctions  for  safety 
were  handed  down  from  elder  to  subaltern,  and  a 
plebe  fell  heir  to  these  stories  as  much  as  to  the 
tactics  imparted  by  his  superiors,  or  the  campaign- 
ing lore.  I  hardly  know  when  I  first  heard  of  the 
unfortunate  woman  who  lingered  too  far  behind 
the  cavalcade,  in  riding  for  pleasure  or  marching, 
and  was  captured  by  the  Indians,  but  for  ten  years 
her  story  was  related  to  me  by  officers  of  all 
ages  and  all  branches  of  the  service  as  a  warning. 
In  Texas,  the  lady  who  had  been  frightfully  stung 
by  a  centipede  pointed  every  moral.  The  sting 
was  inflicted  before  the  war,  and  in  the  far  back 
days  of  "  angel  sleeves,"  which  fell  away  from  the 
arm  to  the  shoulder.  Though  this  misfortune 
dated  back  from  such  a  distant  period,  the  young 
officers,  in  citing  her  as  a  warning  to  us  to  be 
careful,  described  the  red  marks  all  the  way  up 
the  arm,  with  as  much  fidelity  as  if  they  had  seen 
them.  No  one  would  have  dreamed  that  the 
story  had  filtered  through  so  many  channels.  But 
surely  one  needed  little  warning  of  the  centipede. 
Once  seen,  it  made  as  red  stains  on  the  memory 
as  on  the  beautiful  historic  arm  that  was  used  to 
frighten  us.  The  Arabs  call  it  the  mother  of 
forty-four,  alluding  to  the  legs;  and  the  swift  man- 
ner in  which  it  propels  itself  over  the  ground,  aid- 


WARFARE  ON  THE  TARANTULA. 

ed  by  eight  or  nine  times  as  many  feet  as  are  al- 
lotted to  ordinary  reptiles,  makes  one  habitually 
place  himself  in  a  position  for  a  quick  jump  or 
flight,  while  campaigning  in  Texas.  We  had  to  be 
watchful  all  the  time  we  were  in  the  South.  Even 
in  winter,  when  wood  was  brought  in  and  laid 
down  beside  the  fire-place,  the  scorpions,  torpid 
with  cold  at  first,  crawled  out  of  knots  and  crevices, 
and  made  a  scattering  till  they  were  captured. 
One  of  my  friends  was  stationed  at  a  post  where 
the  quarters  were  old  and  of  adobe,  and  had  been 
used  during  the  war  for  stables  by  the  Confed- 
erates. It  was  of  no  use  to  try  to  exterminate 
these  reptiles  ;  they  run  so  swiftly  it  takes  a  deft 
hand  and  a  sure  stroke  to  finish  them  up.  Our 
officers  grew  expert  in  devising  means  to  protect 
themselves,  and,  in  this  instance,  a  box  of  moist 
mud,  with  a  shingle  all  ready,  was  kept  in  the  quar- 
ters. When  a  tarantula  showed  himself,  he  was 
plastered  on  the  wall.  It  is  impossible  to  describe 
how  loathsome  that  great  spider  is.  The  round 
body  and  long,  far-reaching  legs  are  covered  with 
hairs,  each  particular  hair  visible;  and  the  satanic 
eyes  bulge  out  as  they  come  on  in  your  direction, 
making  a  feature  of  every  nightmare  for  a  long 
time  after  they  are  first  seen.  The  wife  of  an 
officer,  to  keep  these  horrors  from  dropping  on  her 
bed  as  they  ran  over  the  ceiling,  had  a  sheet  fas- 


I  76  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

tened  at  the  four  corners  and  let  down  from  the 
rough  rafters  to  catch  all  invaders,  and  thus  en- 
sured herself  undisturbed  sleep. 

Officers  all  watch  and  guard  the  women  who 
share  their  hardships.  Even  the  young,  unmarried 
men — the  bachelor  officers,  as  they  are  called — 
patterning  after  their  elders,  soon  fall  into  a  sort  of 
fatherly  fashion  of  looking  out  for  the  comfort  and 
safety  of  the  women  they  are  with,  whether  old 
or  young,  pretty  or  ugly.  It  often  happens  that  a 
comrade,  going  on  a  scout,  gives  his  wife  into 
their  charge.  I  think  of  a  hundred  kindly  deeds 
shown  to  all  of  us  on  the  frontier;  and  I  have 
known  of  acts  so  delicate  that  I  can  hardly  refer 
to  them  with  sufficient  tact,  and  wish  I  might 
write  with  a  tuft  of  thistle-down.  In  the  instance 
of  some  very  young  women — with  hearts  so  pure 
and  souls  so  spotless  they  could  not  for  one 
moment  imagine  there  lived  on  earth  people  de- 
praved enough  to  question  all  acts,  no  matter  how 
harmless  in  themselves — I  have  known  a  little  word 
of  caution  to  be  spoken  regarding  some  exuber- 
ance of  conduct  that  arose  from  the  excess  of  a 
thoughtless,  joyous  heart.  The  husband  who  re- 
turned to  his  wife  could  thank  the  friend  who  had 
watched  over  his  interests  no  more  deeply  than 
the  wife  who  owed  her  escape  from  criticism  to 
his  timely  word.  And  sometimes,  when  we  went 


TR  UE  FRIENDSHIP. 

into  the  States,  or  were  at  a  post  with  strange 
officers,  it  would  not  occur  to  us,  gay  and  thought- 
less as  we  were,  that  we  must  consider  that  we 
were  not  among  those  with  whom  we  had 
"  summered  and  wintered;"  and  the  freedom  and 
absolute  naturalness  of  manner  that  arose  from 
our  long  and  intimate  relationship  in  isolated 
posts,  ought  perhaps  to  give  way  to  more  formal 
conduct.  If  the  women  said  to  the  men,  "  Now  we 
are  among  strangers,  do  you  not  think  they  would 
misunderstand  our  dancing  or  driving  or  walking 
together  just  as  fearlessly  as  at  home  ?"  that  was 
sufficient.  The  men  said,  "  Sure  enough  !  It  never 
occurred  to  me.  By  jove !  I  wish  we  were  back 
where  a  fellow  need  not  be  hampered  by  having 
every  act  questioned;"  and  then  no  one  sought 
harder  or  more  carefully  so  to  act  that  we  might 
satisfy  the  exactions  of  that  censorious  group  of 
elderly  women  who  sat  in  hotel  parlors,  looking 
on  and  remarking,  "  We  did  not  do  so  when  we 
were  girls,"  or  even  some  old  frump  in  a  gar- 
rison we  visited,  who,  having  squeezed  dry  her 
orange  of  life,  was  determined  that  others  should 
get  no  good  out  of  theirs,  if  she  could  insert  one 
drop  of  gall. 

Occasionally  the  young  officers,  perhaps  too 
timid  to  venture  on  a  personal  suggestion,  sent  us 
word  by  roundabout  ways,  that  they  did  not  want 


I  78  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS, 

us  to  continue  to  cultivate  someone  of  whom  we 
knew  nothing,  save  that  he  was  agreeable.  How 
my  husband  thanked  them.  He  walked  the  floor 
with  his  hands  behind  him,  moved  so  that  his 
voice  was  unsteady,  and  said  his  say  about  what 
he  owed  to  men  who  would  not  let  a  woman  they 
valued  be  even  associated  with  any  one  who 
might  reflect  on  them.  He  was  a  home-lover,  and, 
not  being  with  those  who  daily  congregated  at  the 
sutler's  store,  the  real  "  gossip-mill"  of  a  garrison,  he 
heard  but  little  of  what  was  going  on.  A  man  is 
supposed  to  be  the  custodian  of  his  own  house- 
hold in  civil  life  ;  but  it  must  be  remembered  that 
in  our  life  a  husband  had  often  to  leave  a  young 
and  inexperienced  bride  to  the  care  of  his  com- 
rades, while  he  went  off  for  months  of  field  duty. 
The  grateful  tears  rise  now  in  my  eyes  at  the  rec- 
ollection of  men  who  guarded  us  from  the  very 
semblance  of  evil  as  if  we  had  been  their  sisters. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

A    TEXAS    NORTHER A    SCHOOL-GIRL^S    FIRST  IMPRESSION 

OF  TEXAS THE  ANTS  AS  OUR  THRIVING  NEIGHBORS 

GENERAL    CUSTER    ILL    OF    BREAK-BONE    FEVER- 
MEASURING  AN  ALLIGATOR THE    MARCH  TO  AUSTIN 

CHASING  JACK-RABBITS BYRON  THE  GREYHOUND. 

VI  7  E  had  not  been  long-  in  our  camp  at  Hemp- 
stead,  before  the  wives  of  two  of  the  staff 
arrived  by  way  of  Galveston.  Their  tents  were 
put  on  a  line  with  or  near  ours,  and  arbors  built 
over  them.  One  of  these  women,  Mrs.  Greene,  had 
been  one  of  my  dearest  girlhood  friends,  and  every 
pleasure  of  my  happy  life  was  enhanced  by  the 
presence  of  this  lovely  woman.  We  all  went  out, 
after  the  heat  of  the  day,  on  long  rides  about  the 
country.  Our  father  Custer  was  a  fine  rider,  and  not 
only  sat  his  horse  well,  but  it  was  almost  impossible 
to  unseat  him.  He  grew  more  wary  and  watchful 
of  his  tormenting  sons  every  day.  If  they  halted, 
apparently  only  to  say  a  casual  word  or  so  to  their 
paternal,  that  keen  old  man  spurred  his  horse  to 
one  side  with  the  agility  of  a  circus-rider,  just  in 


179 


1 8O  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

time  to  avoid  the  flying  heels  of  the  horse  of  his 
offspring  in  front  of  him,  which  had  been  taught 
to  fling  his  hoofs  up  when  touched  just  back  of 
the  saddle.  If  both  boys  came  together  and  rode 
one  on  each  side  of  him,  he  looked  uneasily  from 
one  to  the  other,  suspicious  of  this  sudden  exhibi- 
tion of  friendship ;  and  well  he  might,  for  while 
one  fixed  his  attention  by  some  question  that  pro- 
voked an  answer,  usually  about  politics,  the  other 
gave  a  quick  rap  on  the  back  of  the  horse,  and  the 
next  thing,  the  father  was  grasping  the  pommel  to 
keep  from  being  flung  forward  of  the  animal  as 
he  threw  up  his  heels  and  plunged  his  head  down, 
making  the  angle  of  an  incline  plane.  Even  when, 
after  a  concerted  plan,  one  rode  up  and  pulled  the 
cape  of  the  elder  man's  overcoat  over  his  head  and 
held  it  there  a  moment,  while  the  other  gave  the 
horse  a  cut,  he  sat  like  a  centaur,  and  no  surprise 
unseated  or  loosened  his  grip  on  the  reins.  They 
knew  his  horsemanship  well,  as  he  had  ridden  af- 
ter the  hounds  in  Maryland  and  Virginia  in  his 
younger  days,  and  had  taught  them  to  sit  a  horse 
bareback,  when  their  little  fat  legs  were  too  short 
to  describe  a  curve  on  the  animal's  side.  Of  course 
I  was  always  begging  to  have  them  spare  father, 
but  it  was  needless  championship.  He  enjoyed 
their  pranks  with  all  his  fun-loving  soul. 

It  was  very  hard  to  get  postage,  and  he  was  un- 


A  COON  HUNT.  l8l 

wary  enough  one  day — on  account  of  the  color 
being  the  same  as  the  issue  of  that  year — to  buy 
a  dollar's  worth  of  his  eldest  scion,  only  to  find 
them  old  ones,  such  as  were  used  before  the  war. 
Whether  he  considered  the  joke  worth  a  dollar,  I 
could  not  decipher,  for  he  was  silent ;  but  soon 
afterward  he  showed  me  an  envelope  marked  in 
the  writing  of  his  son  Armstrong,  "  Conscience- 
money,"  containing  the  $i  unlawfully  obtained. 

We  were  invited  one  night  to  go  to  a  coon-hunt, 
conducted  in  the  real  old  Southern  style.  The 
officers  wanted  us  to  see  some  hunting,  but  were 
obliged  to  leave  us  behind  hitherto  when  they 
crossed  the  Brazos  River  on  deer-hunts,  and  were 
the  guests  of  the  planters  in  the  chase,  that  began 
before  dawn  and  lasted  all  day.  We  had  thickets, 
underbrush  and  ditches  to  encounter,  before  the 
dogs  treed  the  coon  ;  then  a  little  darkey,  brought 
along  for  the  climbing,  went  up  into  the  branches 
and  dislodged  the  game,  which  fell  among  our  and 
the  neighbors'  dogs.  No  voice  excited  them  more 
wildly  than  the  "  Whoop-la  !  "  of  our  old  father, 
and  when  we  came  home  at  2  A.  M.,  carrying  a 
coon  and  a  possum,  he  was  as  fresh  as  the  young- 
est of  us. 

The  citizens  surrounding  us  were  so  relieved  to 
find  that  our  troops  left  them  unmolested,  they 
frankly  contrasted  the  disciplined  conduct  with  the 


1 82  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

lawlessness  to  which  they  had  been  witness,  in 
States  where  the  Confederate  army  was  stationed. 
But  they  scarcely  realized  that  an  army  in  time  of 
peace  is  much  more  restricted.  They  could 
hardly  say  enough  about  the  order  that  was  car- 
ried out,  preventing  the  negroes  from  joining  the 
column  as  it  marched  into  Texas.  There  was  no 
way  of  taking  care  of  them,  and  the  General  di- 
rected that  none  should  follow,  so  they  went  back, 
contented  to  work  where  they  would  be  fed  and 
clothed. 

One  reason  that  our  life  seemed  to  me  the  very 
perfection  of  all  that  is  ever  attained  on  earth 
was,  that  the  rumors  of  trouble  with  Mexico  had 
ceased.  The  demands  of  our  Government  had 
been  complied  with  ;  but  it  was  thought  best  to 
keep  the  troops  in  the  field  the  rest  of  the  year, 
though  there  was  to  be  no  war. 

Our  first  experience  with  a  Texas  norther  sur- 
prised and  startled  us.  It  came  on  in  the 
night,  preceded  by  the  usual  heavy,  suffocating 
air  which  renders  breathing  an  effort.  After  this 
prelude,  the  wild  blast  of  wind  swept  down  on  us 
with  a  fury  indescribable.  We  heard  the  roar 
as  it  approached  over  the  stretch  of  prairie  be- 
tween us  and  the  sea.  Our  tent,  though  it  was 
guyed  by  ropes  stretched  from  the  ridge-pole  to  a 
strong  post  driven  far  into  the  ground,  both  in 


OUR  FIRST  »  NORTHER."  183 

front  and  at  the  rear,  shook,  rattled,  and  flapped 
as  if  with  the  rage  of  some  human  creature.  It 
was  twisted  and  wrenched  from  side  to  side  ;  the 
arbor  overhead  seemed  to  toss  to  and  fro,  and  the 
wagon  rocked  in  a  crazy  effort  to  spill  us  out. 
Though  the  ropes  stretched  and  cracked  like 
cordage  at  sea,  and  the  canvas  flapped  like  loosen- 
ed sails,  we  did  not  go  down.  Indeed,  rocked  in 
this  improvised  "  cradle  of  the  deep,"  it  was  hard 
to  tell  whether  one  was  at  sea  or  on  land.  I  begged 
to  get  up  and  dress  for  the  final  collapse  that  I  was 
sure  was  coming,  but  my  husband  quieted  me  and 
calmed  my  fears,  believing  that  the  approaching 
rain  would  still  the  wind,  as  it  eventually  did. 
Next  morning  a  scene  of  havoc  was  visible.  Our 
neighbors  crept  out  of  their  tents,  and  we  women, 
in  a  little  whispered  aside,  exchanged  our  opinions 
upon  the  climate  of  the  "Sunny  South." 

They,  also,  had  passed  a  night  of  terror,  but 
fortunately  their  tents  did  not  go  down.  Mrs. 
Lyon  had  just  come  from  the  North,  and  expected 
to  join  her  husband;  meanwhile  she  was  our  guest, 
and  the  General  and  I  had  endeavored  to  give  her 
as  cordial  a  welcome  as  we  could,  feeling  that  all 
must  be  so  strange  to  her  after  the  security  and 
seclusion  of  her  girlhood's  home.  The  night  pre- 
ceding the  norther  we  took  her  to  her  tent  near 
ours,  and  helped  her  arrange  for  the  night,  assur- 


184  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

ing  her  that  we  were  so  near  that  we  could  hear 
her  voice,  if  she  was  in  the  least  afraid.  We,  being 
novices  in  the  experience  of  that  climate  and  its 
gales,  had  no  idea  the  wind  would  rise  to  such 
concert  pitch  that  no  voice  could  be  distinguished. 
She  said  that  when  we  fastened  her  in  from  the 
outside  world  with  two  straps,  she  felt  very  uncer- 
tain about  her  courage  holding  out.  We  kept 
on  assuring  her  not  to  be  afraid,  but  on  bid- 
ding her  good-night  and  saying  again  not  to  be 
in  the  least  disturbed,  that  the  sentinel  walked  his 
beat  in  front  of  her  tent  all  night,  she  dared  not 
own  up  that  this  assurance  did  not  tend  to  soothe 
her  anxious  fears,  for  she  thought  she  would  be 
more  afraid  of  the  guard  than  of  anything  else. 
And  as  I  think  of  it,  such  a  good-night  from  us  was 
rather  unsatisfactory.  My  husband,  soldier-like, 
put  the  utmost  faith  in  the  guard,  and  I,  though 
only  so  short  a  time  before  mortally  afraid  of  the 
stern,  unswerving  warrior  myself,  had  soon  for- 
gotten that  there  were  many  timid  women  in  the 
world  who  knew  nothing  of  sleeping  without  locks 
or  bolts,  and  thought,  perhaps,  that  at  the  slightest 
ignorance  or  dereliction  of  duty  the  sentinel  would 
fire  on  an  offender,  whether  man  or  woman. 
Added  to  this  fear  of  the  sentinel,  the  storm  took 
what  remnant  of  nerve  she  had  left;  and  though  she 
laughed  next  morning  about  her  initiation  into  the 


WRECKS  FROM  THE  HURRICANE. 

service  of  the  Government,  there  were  subsequent 
confessions  to  the  horror  of  that  unending  night. 
In  talking  with  Major  and  Mrs.  Lyon  nowadays, 
when  it  is  my  privilege  to  see  them,  there  seem  to 
be  no  memories  but  pleasant  ones  of  our  Texas 
life.  They  might  well  cherish  two  reminiscences 
as  somewhat  disturbing,  for  Mrs.  Lyon's  reception 
by  the  hurricane,  and  the  Major's  baptism  of  gore 
when  he  killed  his  first  deer,  were  not  scenes  that 
would  bear  frequent  repetition  and  only  leave 
pleasant  memories. 

The  staff-officers  had  caused  a  long  shade  to  be 
built,  instead  of  shorter  ones,  which  would  have 
stood  the  storms  better.  Under  this  all  of  their 
tents  were  pitched  in  two  rows  facing  each  other  ; 
and  protected  by  this  arbor,  they  daily  took  the 
siesta  which  is  almost  compulsory  there  in  the 
heat  of  the  noontide.  Now  the  shade  was  lifted 
off  one  side  and  tilted  over,  and  some  of  the  tents 
were  also  flat.  Among  them  was  that  of  our 
father  Custer.  He  had  extricated  himself  with 
difficulty  from  under  the  canvas,  and  described  his 
sensations  so  quaintly  that  his  woes  were  greeted 
with  roars  of  laughter  from  us  all.  After  nar- 
rating the  downfall  of  his  "  rag  house,"  he  dryly 
remarked  that  it  would  seem,  owing  to  the  cli- 
mate and  other  causes,  he  was  not  going  to  have 
much  uninterrupted  sleep,  and,  looking  slyly  at 


1 86  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

the  staff,  he  added  that  his  neighborhood  was  not 
the  quietest  he  had  ever  known. 

The  letters  home  at  that  time,  in  spite  of  their 
description  of  trivial  events,  and  the  exuberant 
underlined  expressions  of  girlish  pleasure  over 
nothings,  my  father  enjoyed  and  preserved.  I 
find  that  our  idle  Sundays  were  almost  blanks  in 
life,  as  we  had  no  service  and  the  hunting  and 
riding  were  suspended.  I  marked  the  day  by 
writing  home,  and  a  few  extracts  will  perhaps  pre- 
sent a  clearer  idea  of  the  life  there  than  anything 
that  could  be  written  now  : 

"  Every  Sunday  I  wake  up  with  the  thought  of 
home,  and  wish  that  we  might  be  there  and  go  to 
church  with  you.  I  can  imagine  how  pleasant 
home  is  now.  Among  other  luxuries,  I  see  with 
my  '  mind's  eye  '  a  large  plate  of  your  nice  apples 
on  the  dining-room  table.  I  miss  apples  here ; 
none  grow  in  this  country  ;  and  a  man  living  near 
here  told  our  Henry  that  he  hadn't  seen  one  for 
five  years.  Father  Custer  bought  me  some  small, 
withered-looking  ones  for  fifty  cents  apiece.  It 
seems  so  strange  that  in  this  State,  where  many 
planters  live  who  are  rich  enough  to  build  a 
church  individually,  there  is  such  a  scarcity  of 
churches.  Why,  at  the  North,  the  first  knowledge 
one  has  of  the  proximity  of  a  village  is  by  seeing 
a  spire,  and  a  church  is  almost  the  first  building 


SCHOOL-GIRL  LETTERS.  187 

put  up  when  a  town  is  laid  out.  Here  in  this 
country  it  is  the  last  to  be  thought  of.  Cotton  is 
indeed  king.  The  cake  you  sent  to  me  by  Nettie 
Green,  dear  mother,  was  a  perfect  godsend.  Oh, 
anything  you  make  does  taste  so  good  ! 

"  Our  orderly  has  perfected  a  trade  for  a  beau- 
tiful little  horse  for  me,  so  that  when  Custis  Lee's 
corns  trouble  him,  I  am  not  obliged  to  take  the 
choice  of  staying  at  home  or  riding  one  of  Arm- 
strong's prancers.  The  new  horse  has  cunning 
tricks,  getting  down  on  his  knees  to  let  me  get  on 
and  off,  if  I  tell  him  to  do  so.  He  is  very  affec- 
tionate, and  he  racks  a  mile  inside  of  three  min- 
utes. We  talk  '  horse '  a  great  deal  here,  dear 
father,  and  my  letters  may  be  like  our  talk  ;  but 
any  man  who  has  kept  in  his  stable,  for  months 
at  a  time,  a  famous  race-horse  worth  $9,000,  as 
you  have  kept  Don  Juan,*  ought  not  to  object  to 
a  little  account  of  other  people's  animals.  We 
had  an  offer  of  $500  for  Custis  Lee  at  Alex- 
andria." 

"  I  sometimes  have  uninvited  guests  in  my  tent. 
Friday,  Nettie  saw  something  on  the  tray  that 
Eliza  was  carrying.  It  had  a  long  tail,  and  proved 

*  Don  Juan  was  a  horse  captured  by  our  soldiers  during  the  war, 
and  bought,  as  was  the  custom,  by  the  General,  for  the  appraised 
value  of  a  contract  horse.  It  was  the  horse  that  ran  away  with 
him  at  the  grand  review,  and  it  afterward  died  in  Michigan. 


l88  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

to  be  a  stinging  scorpion.  The  citizens  pooh-pooh 
at  our  fear  of  scorpions,  and  insist  that  they  are 
not  so  very  dangerous  ;  but  I  was  glad  to  have 
that  particular  one  killed  by  Armstrong  planting 
his  gun  on  it.  I  feel  much  pleased,  and  Armstrong 
is  quite  proud,  that  I  made  myself  a  riding-habit. 
You  know  I  lost  the  waist  of  mine  in  the  forest. 
It  took  me  weeks  to  finish  it,  being  my  first  at- 
tempt. I  ripped  an  old  waist,  and  copied  it  by 
drawing  lines  with  a  pencil,  pinning  and  basting ; 
but  it  fits  very  well.  I  remember  how  you  both 
wanted  me  to  learn  when  I  was  at  home,  and  I  al- 
most wished  I  had,  when  I  found  it  took  me  such 
ages  to  do  what  ought  to  have  been  short  work. 

"Our  letters  take  twenty  days  in  coming,  and 
longer  if  there  are  storms  in  the  Gulf.  The  papers 
are  stale  enough,  but  Armstrong  goes  through 
them  all.  I  feel  so  rich,  and  am  luxuriating  in 
four  splint-bottom  chairs  that  we  hired  an  old 
darkey  to  make  for  us.  I  want  to  sit  in  all  four 
at  once,  it  seems  so  good  to  get  anything  in  which 
to  rest  that  has  a  back. 

"  Our  dogs  give  us  such  pleasure,  though  it 
took  me  some  time  to  get  used  to  the  din  they  set 
up  when  Armstrong  practiced  on  the  horn.  They 
call  it  '  giving  tongue '  here,  but  I  call  that  too 
mild  a  word.  Their  whole  bodies  seem  hollow, 
they  bring  forth  such  wild  cries  and  cavernous 


A  LA  WLESS  LAND.  1 89 

howls.     We   call   them   Byron,    Brandy,   Jupiter, 
Rattler,  Sultan  and  Tyler." 

"  Something-  awful  is  constantly  occurring 
among  the  citizens.  It  is  a  lawless  country.  A 
relative  of  one  of  our  old  army  officers,  a  promi- 
nent planter  living  near  here,  v/as  shot  dead  in 
Houston  by  a  man  bearing  an  old  grudge  against 
him.  It  is  a  common  occurrence  to  shoot  down 
men  here  for  any  offense  whatever.  Armstrong 
never  goes  anywhere  except  for  hunting,  and  as 
we  have  plenty  of  books  and  our  evening  rides, 
we  enjoy  life  thoroughly.  Nettie  fell  from  her 
horse,  and  we  were  frightened  for  a  time,  but  she 
was  only  lamed.  Though  she  weighs  165  pounds, 
Autie  *  picked  her  up  as  if  she  were  a  baby,  and 
carried  her  into  their  tent." 

"  Besides  visiting  at  the  house  of  the  collector 
of  the  port,  where  there  is  a  houseful  of  young 
girls,  we  have  been  hospitably  treated  by  some 
people  to  whom  Armstrong  was  able  to  be  of  use. 
One  day,  a  gentle,  well-bred  Southern  woman 
came  into  our  tent  to  see  Armstrong,  and  asked 
his  protection  for  her  boy,  telling  him  that  for 


*  An  abbreviation  of  the  General's  second  name,  Armstrong,  given 
him  by  his  elder  sister's  children,  when  they  were  too  young  to 
pronounce  the  full  name  Armstrong. 


190  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

some  childish  carelessness  the  neighboring  colored 
people  had  threatened  his  life.  Armstrong  be- 
lieved her,  and  melted.  He  afterward  inquired 
elsewhere  into  the  matter,  and  was  convinced  that 
the  boy  had  not  intentionally  erred.  The  child 
himself  was  proof,  by  his  frank  manner  and  his 
straightforward  story,  of  his  innocence. 

"  I  suppose  we  were  the  first  Yankees  these 
people  had  ever  known,  and  doubtless  nothing 
but  gratitude  induced  them  even  to  speak  with 
us  ;  yet  they  conquered  prejudice,  and  asked  us 
to  dinner.  They  had  been  so  well  dressed  when 
they  called — and  were  accounted  rich,  I  believe,  by 
the  neighbors — that  I  could  scarcely  believe  we 
had  reached  the  right  house  when  we  halted.  It 
was  like  the  cabins  of  the  "  poor  white  trash  "  in 
the  forest,  only  larger.  I  thought  we  had  mis- 
taken the  negro  quarters  for  the  master's.  Two 
large  rooms,  with  extensions  at  the  rear,  were 
divided  by  an  open  space  roofed  over,  under 
which  the  table  was  spread.  The  house  was  of 
rough  logs,  and  unpainted.  Unless  the  Texans 
built  with  home  materials,  their  houses  cost  as 
much  as  palaces  abroad,  for  the  dressed  lumber 
had  to  be  hauled  from  the  seacoast. 

"  The  inside  of  this  queer  home  was  in  marked 
contrast  with  the  exterior.  The  furniture  was 
modern  and  handsome,  and  the  piano,  on  which 


A  GENEROUS  NEIGHBOR. 

the  accomplished  mother,  as  well  as  her  little  son, 
gave  us  music,  was  from  one  of  our  best  Northern 
manufactories.  The  china,  glass  and  linen  on  the 
dinner-table  were  still  another  surprise. 

"They  never  broached  politics,  gave  us  an  ex- 
cellent dinner,  and  got  on  Armstrong's  blind  side 
forever,  by  giving  him  a  valuable  full-blooded 
pointer,  called  Ginnie,  short  for  Virginia.  With 
four  game  chickens,  a  Virginia  cured  ham  (as  that 
was  their  former  State),  and  two  turkeys,  we  were 
sent  on  our  way  rejoicing." 

"  Our  Henry  has  gone  home,  and  we  miss  him, 
for  he  is  fidelity  itself.  He  expects  to  move 
his  entire  family  of  negroes  from  Virginia  to 
Monroe,  because  he  says,  father,  you  are  the 
finest  man  he  ever  did  see.  Prepare,  then,  for  the 
dark  cloud  that  is  moving  toward  you,  and  you 
may  have  the  privilege  of  contributing  to  their 
support  for  a  time,  if  he  follows  Eliza's  plan  of 
billeting  the  orphan  upon  us. 

"  We  have  a  new  cook  called  Uncle  Charley, 
who  has  heretofore  been  a  preacher,  but  now  con- 
descends to  get  up  good  dinners  for  us.  We  had 
eleven  to  dine  to-day,  and  borrowed  dishes  of  our 
Southern  neighbors.  We  had  a  soup  made  out  of 
an  immense  turtle  that  Armstrong  killed  in  the 
stream  yesterday.  Then  followed  turkeys,  boiled 


I92 


TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 


ham — and  roast  beef,  of  course,  for  Armstrong 
thinks  no  dinner  quite  perfect  without  his  beef. 
We  are  living  well,  and  on  so  little.  Armstrong's 
pay  as  a  major-general  will  soon  cease,  and  we  are 
trying  now  to  get  accustomed  to  living  on  less. 

"  I  listen  to  the  citizens  talking  over  the  pros- 
pects of  this  State,  and  I  think  it  promises 
wonders.  There  are  chances  for  money-making 
all  the  time  thrown  in  Armstrong's  way ;  but  he 
seems  to  think  that  while  he  is  on  duty  he  had 
better  not  enter  into  business  schemes. 

"  Armstrong  has  such  good  success  in  hunting 
and  fishing  that  he  sends  to  the  other  officers' 
messes,  turtle,  deer,  duck,  quail,  squirrels,  doves 
and  prairie  chickens.  The  possums  are  accepted 
with  many  a  scrape  and  flourish  by  the  '  nigs.'  I 
forgot  to  tell  you  that  our  nine  dogs  sleep  round 
our  wagon  at  night,  quarreling,  growling,  snor- 
ing, but  I  sleep  too  soundly  to  be  kept  awake  by 
them." 

The  very  ants  in  Texas,  though  not  poisonous, 
were  provided  with  such  sharp  nippers  that  they 
made  me  jump  from  my  chair  with  a  bound,  if, 
after  going  out  of  sight  in  the  neck  or  sleeves  of 
my  dress,  they  attempted  to  cut  their  way  out. 
They  clipped  one's  flesh  with  sharp  little  cuts  that 
were  not  pleasant,  especially  when  there  remained 
a  doubt  as  to  whether  it  might  be  a  scorpion.  We 


DESTRUCTIVE  ANTS. 


193 


had  to  guard  our  linen  carefully,  for  they  cut  it  up 
with  ugly  little  slits  that  were  hard  to  mend.  Be- 
sides, we  had  to  be  careful,  as  we  were  so  cut  off 
that  we  could  not  well  replace  our  few  clothes, 
and  it  costs  a  ruinous  sum  to  send  North,  or  even 
to  New  Orleans,  for  anything.  I  found  this  out 
when  the  General  paid  an  express  bill  on  a  gown 
from  New  York — ordered  before  we  left  the  East — 
far  larger  than  the  cost  of  the  material  and  the 
dressmaker's  bill  together.  The  ants  besieged  the 
cook-tent  and  set  Uncle  Charley  and  Eliza  to  growl- 
ing ;  but  an  old  settler  told  them  to  surround  the 
place  with  tan-bark,  and  they  were  thus  freed.  It 
was  all  I  could  do  to  keep  the  General  from  digging 
down  into  the  ant-mounds,  as  he  was  anxious  to 
see  into  their  mechanism.  The  colored  people 
and  citizens  told  us  what  fighters  they  were,  and 
what  injuries  they  inflicted  on  people  who  molested 
them.  We  watched  them  curiously  day  by  day, 
and  wanted  to  see  if  the  residents  had  told  us 
stories  about  their  stripping  the  trees  of  foliage 
just  to  guy  us.  It  has  long  been  the  favorite 
pastime  of  old  residents  to  impose  all  sorts  of  im- 
probable tales  on  the  new-comer.  Whether  this 
occurrence  happens  often  or  not  I  cannot  say,  but 
it  certainly  took  place  once  while  we  were  there. 
One  morning  my  husband  ran  into  the  tent  and 
asked  me  to  hurry  up  with  my  dressing ;  he  had 


194 


TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 


something  strange  to  show  me,  and  helped  me 
scramble  into  my  clothes. 

The  carriage-road  in  front  of  our  tents  cut  rather 
deep  ruts,  over  which  the  ants  found  a  difficult 
passage,  so  they  had  laid  a  causeway  of  bits  of 
cut  leaves,  over  which  they  journeyed  between  a 
tree  and  their  ant-hills,  not  far  from  our  tents  on 
the  other  side  of  the  road.  They  were  still  travel- 
ing back  and  forth,  each  bearing  a  bit  of  leaf 
bigger  than  itself ;  and  a  half-grown  tree  near  us, 
which  had  been  full  of  foliage  the  day  before,  was 
entirely  bare. 

For  some  reason  unexplainable,  malarial  fever 
broke  out  among  our  staff.  It  was,  I  suppose,  the 
acclimation  to  which  we  were  being  subjected, 
My  father  Custer  was  ill,  and  came  forth  from 
his  siege  whitened  out,  while  the  officers  disap- 
peared to  mourn  over  the  number  of  their  bones 
for  a  few  days,  and  then  crept  out  of  the  tents  as 
soon  as  they  could  move.  My  husband  all  this 
time  had  never  even  changed  color.  His  powers 
of  endurance  amazed  me.  He  seemed  to  have  set 
his  strong  will  against  yielding  to  climatic  in- 
fluences ;  but  after  two  days  of  this  fighting  he 
gave  in  and  tossed  himself  on  our  borrowed 
lounge,  a  vanquished  man.  He  was  very  sick. 
Break-bone  fever  had  waited  to  do  its  worst  with  its 
last  victim.  Everything  looked  very  gloomy  to 


A  FEVER-RACKED  PATIENT.  195 

me.  We  had  not  even  a  wide  bed,  on  which  it  is 
a  little  comfort  if  a  fever-tossed  patient  can  fling 
himself  from  side  to  side.  We  had  no  ice,  no  fruit, 
indeed,  nothing  but  quinine.  The  supplies  of  that 
drug  to  the  hospital  department  of  Texas  must  be 
sent  by  the  barrel,  it  seemed  to  me,  from  the 
manner  in  which  it  was  consumed. 

Our  devoted  surgeon  came,  of  his  own  accord, 
over  and  over  again,  and  was  untiring  in  his 
patience  in  coming  when  I  sent  for  him  in-between- 
times,  to  please  me  in  my  anxiety.  My  husband 
was  so  racked  and  tormented  by  pain,  and  burnt 
up  with  fiery  heat,  that  he  hardly  made  the 
feeblest  fight  about  the  medicine,  after  having  at- 
tained the  satisfaction  of  my  tasting  it,  to  be  sure 
that  I  knew  how  bitter  it  was.  As  the  fever 
abated  every  hour,  I  resorted  to  new  modes  of 
bribery  and  corruption  to  get  him  to  swallow  the 
huge  pill.  My  step-mother's  cake  had  come  in  the 
very  best  time,  for  I  extracted  the  raisins  and  hid 
the  quinine  in  them,  as  my  father  had  done 
when  giving  me  medicine  as  a  child.  It 
seemed  to  me  an  interminable  time  before 
the  disease  began  to  yield  to  the  remedies. 
In  reality,  it  was  not  long,  as  the  General 
was  unaccustomed  to  medicine,  and  its  effect 
was  more  quickly  realized  on  that  account.  Even 
when  my  husband  began  to  crawl  about  again, 


I  96  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

the  doctor  continued  the  medicine,  and  I  as  nurse 
remorselessly  carried  out  his  directions,  though  I 
had  by  no  means  a  tractable  patient,  as  with  re- 
turning health  came  restored  combative  powers. 
My  husband  noticed  the  rapid  disappearance  of 
the  pills  from  the  table  when  he  lay  and  watched 
the  hated  things  with  relief,  as  he  discovered  that 
he  was  being  aided  in  the  consumption  by  some 
unknown  friend.  One  morning  we  found  the 
plate  on  which  the  doctor  had  placed  thirty  the 
night  before,  empty.  Of  course  I  accused  the 
General  of  being  the  cause  of  the  strange  disap- 
pearance, and  prepared  to  send  for  more,  inexora- 
ble in  my  temporary  reign  over  a  weak  man.  He 
attempted  a  mild  kicking  celebration  and  clapping 
accompaniment  over  the  departure  of  his  hated 
medicine,  as  much  as  his  rather  unsteady  feet  and 
arms  would  allow,  but  stoutly  denied  having  done 
away  with  the  offending  pills.  The  next  night 
we  kept  watch  over  the  fresh  supply,  and  soon 
after  dark  the  ants  began  their  migrations  up  the 
loose  tent-wall  on  the  table-cover  that  fell  against 
the  canvas,  and  while  one  grasped  the  flour-mixed 
pill  with  his  long  nippers,  the  partner  pushed, 
steered  and  helped  roll  the  plunder  down  the  side 
of  the  tent  on  to  the  ground. 

The    triumph    of  the   citizens    was    complete. 
Their  tales  were  outdone  by  our  actual  experience. 


AN  OLD  ENEMY. 

After  that,  there  was  no  story  they  told  us  which 
we  did  not  take  in  immediately  without  question. 

The  hunting  included  alligators  also.  In  the 
stream  below  us  there  were  occasional  deep  pools, 
darkened  by  the  overhanging  trees.  As  we 
women  walked  on  the  banks,  we  kept  a  respect- 
ful distance  from  the  places  where  the  bend  in  the 
creek  widened  into  a  pond,  with  still  water  near 
the  high  banks.  In  one  of  these  dark  pools  lived 
an  ancient  alligator,  well  known  to  the  neighbors, 
on  which  they  had  been  unsuccessfully  firing  for 
years.  The  darkies  kept  aloof  from  his  fastness, 
and  even  Eliza,  whose  Monday-morning  soul 
longed  for  the  running  water  of  the  stream,  for  she 
had  struggled  with  muddy  water  so  long,  trem- 
bled at  the  tales  of  this  monster.  She  reminds 
me  now  "  what  a  lovely  place  to  wash  that  Gros 
wash-house  was,  down  by  the  creek.  But  it  was 
near  the  old  alligator's  pool,  and  I  know  I  hurried 
up  my  wash  awfully,  for  I  was  afraid  be  might 
come  up ;  for  you  know,  Miss  Libbie,  it  was 
reckoned  that  they  was  mighty  fond  of  children 
and  colored  people." 

One  of  the  young  officers  was  determined  to 
get  this  veteran,  and  day  after  day  went  up 
and  down  the  creek,  coming  home  at  night  to 
meet  the  jeers  of  the  others,  who  did  not  believe 
that  alligator-hunting  in  a  hot  country  paid.  One 


198 


TEN1ING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 


night  he  stopped  at  our  tent,  radiant  and  jubilant. 
He  had  shot  the  old  disturber  of  the  peace,  the 
intimidator  of  the  neighborhood,  and  was  going 
for  help  to  haul  him  up  to  the  tents.  He  was  a 
monster,  and  it  cost  the  men  tough  pulling  to  get 
him  up  the  bank,  and  then  to  drag  him  down  near 
our  tent.  There  he  was  left  for  us  women  to  see. 
We  walked  around  and  around  him,  very  brave, 
and  quite  relieved  to  think  that  we  were  rid  of  so 
dangerous  a  neighbor,  with  a  real  old  Jonah-and- 
the-whale  mouth.  The  General  congratulated  the 
young  officer  heartily,  and  wished  it  had  been  his 
successful  shot  that  had  ended  him.  Part  of  the 
jaw  had  been  shot  away,  evidently  years  ago,  as 
it  was  then  calloused  over.  It  was  distended  to 
its  utmost  capacity,  and  propped  open  with  a 
stick.  Nettie  brought  out  a  broom  from  her  tent, 
with  which  to  get  a  rough  estimate  of  his  length, 
as  we  knew  well  that  if -we  did  not  give  some 
idea  of*  his  size  in  our  letters  home,  they  would 
think  the  climate,  which  enervates  so  quickly,  had 
produced  a  total  collapse  in  our  power  to  tell  the 
truth.  The  broom  did  not  begin  to  answer,  so  we 
pieced  out  the  measure  with  something  else,  in 
order  to  arrive  at  some  kind  of  accuracy.  Then 
we  thought  we  would  like  to  see  how  the  beast 
looked  with  his  mouth  closed,  and  the  officers, 
patient  in  humoring  our  whims,  pulled  out  the 


199 


20O  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

props.  There  was  a  sudden  commotion.  The 
next  thing  visible  was  three  sets  of  flying"  petti- 
coats making  for  the  tent,  as  the  alligator,  revived 
by  the  sudden  let-down  of  his  upper  jaw,  sprawled 
out  his  feet  and  began  to  walk  off  over  the  grass. 
The  crack  of  the  rifle  a  moment  after  brought  out 
the  heads  of  three  cowards  from  their  tents,  but 
after  that  no  woman  hovered  over  even  his  dead 
hide.  The  General  was  convulsed  over  our  re- 
treat. The  drying  skin  of  his  majesty,  the  lord 
of  the  pool,  flung  and  flapped  in  the  wind,  sus- 
pended to  the  pole  of  the  officers'  arbor  for  weeks, 
and  it  was  well  tanned  by  the  air  long  before  they 
ceased  to  make  sly  allusions  to  women's  curi- 
osity. 

At  last,  in  November,  the  sealed  proposals  from 
citizens  to  the  quartermaster  for  the  contract  for 
transporting  the  camp  equipage  and  baggage,  for- 
age, etc.,  over  the  country,  were  all  in,  and  the 
most  reasonable  of  the  propositions  was  accepted. 
Orders  had  come  to  move  on  to  Austin,  the  capi- 
tal, where  we  were  to  winter.  It  was  with  real 
regret  that  I  saw  our  traps  packed,  the  tents  of 
our  pretty  encampment  taken  down,  the  arbors 
thrown  over,  and  our  faces  turned  toward  the  in- 
terior of  the  State.  The  General,  too  buoyant  not 
to  think  that  every  move  would  better  us,  felt 
nothing  but  pleasure  to  be  on  the  march  again. 


MARCHING  TO  AUSTIN.  2OI 

The  journey  was  very  pleasant  through  the  day, 
and  we  were  not  compelled  to  rise  before  dawn, 
for  the  sun  was  by  no  means  unbearable,  as  it  had 
been  in  August.  It  was  cold  at  night,  and  the 
wind  blew  around  the  wagon,  flapping  the  curtains, 
under  which  it  penetrated,  and  lifting  the  covers 
unless  they  were  strongly  secured.  As  to  trying 
to  keep  warm  by  a  camp-fire  in  November,  I  rather 
incline  to  the  belief  that  it  is  impossible.  Instead 
of  heat  coming  into  the  tent  where  I  put  on  my 
habit  with  benumbed  fingers,  the  wind  blew  the 
smoke  in.  Sometimes  the  mornings  were  so  cold 
I  begged  to  be  left  in  bed,  and  argued  that  the 
mules  could  be  attached  and  I  could  go  straight 
on  to  camp,  warm  all  the  way.  But  my  husband 
woke  my  drowsy  pride  by  saying  "  the  officers 
will  surely  think  you  a  '  feather-bed  soldier,' "  which 
term  of  derision  was  applied  to  a  man  who  sought 
soft  places  for  duty  and  avoided  hardships,  driv- 
ing when  he  ought  to  ride. 

If  we  all  huddled  around  one  of  my  husband's 
splendid  camp-fires,  I  came  in  for  the  smoke.  The 
officers'  pretty  little  gallantries  about  "  smoke  al- 
ways following  beauty,"  did  not  keep  my  eyes 
from  being  blistered  and  blinded.  It  was,  after 
all,  not  a  very  great  hardship,  as  during  the  day 
we  had  the  royal  sun  of  that  Southern  winter. 

My  husband  rode  on  in  advance  every  day  to 


2O2  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

select  a  camp.  He  gave  the  choice  into  my  hands 
sometimes,  but  it  was  hard  to  keep  wood,  water 
and  suitable  ground  uppermost;  I  wanted  always 
the  sheltered,  pretty  spots.  We  enjoyed  every 
mile  of  our  march.  It  rained  sometimes,  pouring 
down  so  suddenly  that  a  retreat  to  the  traveling 
wagons  was  impossible.  One  day  I  was  wet  to 
the  skin  three  times,  and  my  husband  wondered 
what  the  anxious  father  and  mother,  who  used 
frantically  to  call  "  rubbers  "  after  me,  as  a  girl, 
when  I  tried  to  slip  out  unnoticed,  would  say  to 
him  then ;  but  it  did  not  hurt  me  in  the  least. 
The  General  actually  seemed  unconscious  of  the 
shower.  He  wore  a  soldier's  overcoat,  pulled  his 
broad  hat  down  to  shed  the  rain,  and  encouraged 
me  by  saying  I  was  getting  to  be  a  tough 
veteran,  which  among  us  was  very  high  praise. 
Indeed,  we  were  all  then  so  well,  we  snapped  our 
fingers  at  the  once-dreaded  break-bone  fever.  If 
we  broke  the  ice  in  the  bucket  for  our  early  ablu- 
tions, it  became  a  matter  to  joke  over  when  the 
sun  was  up  and  we  all  rode  together,  laughing  and 
joking,  at  the  head  of  the  column. 

Our  march  was  usually  twenty-five  miles,  some- 
times thirty,  in  a  day.  The  General  and  I  foraged 
at  the  farms  we  passed,  and  bought  good  butter, 
eggs  and  poultry.  He  began  to  collect  turkeys 
for  the  winter,  until  we  had  enough  for  a  year. 


THE  SACERDOTAL    COOK. 


203 


Uncle  Charley  was  doing  his  best  to  awe  Eliza 
with  his  numerous  new  dishes.  Though  he  was  a 
preacher,  he  put  on  that  profession  on  Sundays  as 
he  did  his  best  coat ;  and  if  during  the  week  the 
fire  smoked,  or  a  dog  stole  some  prepared  dish 
that  was  standing  one  side  to  cool,  he  expressed 
himself  in  tones  not  loud  but  deep,  and  had  as  ex- 
tensive a  collection  of  negro  oaths  as  Texas  afford- 
ed, which,  I  believe,  is  saying  a  good  deal.  My 
husband,  observant  as  he  always  was,  wondered 
what  possessed  the  old  fellow  when  preparing 
poultry  for  dinner.  We  used  slyly  to  watch  him 
go  one  side,  seize  the  chicken,  and,  while  swift- 
ly wringing  its  neck,  mumble  some  unintelligible 
words  to  himself,  then  throw  down  the  fowl 
in  a  matter-of-fact  way,  and  sit  down  to  pluck  it. 
We  were  mystified,  and  had  to  get  Eliza  to  explain 
this  peculiar  proceeding  that  went  on  day  after 
day.  She  said  that  "  though  Uncle  Charley  does 
swear  so  powerful,  he  has  a  kind  of  superstition 
that  poultry  has  a  hereafter."  Evidently  he 
thought  it  was  not  right  to  send  them  to  their  last 
home  without  what  he  intended  for  a  funeral 
oration.  Sometimes  he  said,  as  fast  as  his  nimble 
old  tongue  could  clatter : 

Hark,  from  the  tombs  a  doleful  sound, 
Mine  ears  attend  the  cry  ! 

Ye  living  hens,  come  view  the  ground 
Where  you  must  shortly  die. 


204  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

Once  after  this  my  husband,  by  hiding,  con- 
trived to  be  present,  though  unseen,  at  one  of  these 
funeral  ceremonies : 

Princes,  this  clay  must  be  your  bed, 

In  spite  of  all  your  towers, 
The  tall,  the  wise,  the  reverend  head, 

Must  lie  as  low  as  yours. 

He  so  timed  his  verses  that  with  one  wrench  he 
gave  the  final  turn  to  the  poor  chicken's  head  as 
he  jerked  out  the  last  line.  My  husband,  per- 
fectly convulsed  himself,  was  in  terror  for  fear 
Uncle  Charley  would  have  his  feelings  hurt  by 
seeing  us,  and  hearing  my  giggling,  and  I  nearly 
smothered  myself  in  the  attempt  to  get  back  to 
our  tent,  where  the  General  threw  himself  down 
with  shrieks  of  laughter. 

We  varied  our  march  by  many  an  exciting  race 
after  jack-rabbits.  The  chapparral  bushes  defeated 
us  frequently  by  making  such  good  hiding-places 
for  the  hare.*  If  we  came  to  a  long  stretch  of 
open  prairie,  and  a  rabbit  lifted  his  doe-like  head 
above  the  grass,  the  General  uttered  a  wild  whoop 
to  his  dog,  a  "  Come  on  ! "  to  me,  and  off  we 
dashed.  Some  of  the  staff  occasionally  joined, 
while  our  father  Custer  bent  over  his  old  roan 
horse,  mildly  struck  him  with  a  spur,  and  was  in 

*  I  never  liked  hunting  when  the  game  was  killed,  and   I  was 
relieved  to  find  how  often  the  hare  rabbit  escaped  into  the  thickets. 


THE  LORDLY  BYRON. 


205 


at  the  death.  The  ground  was  excellent  for  a  run — 
level  and  grassy.  We  had  a  superb  greyhound 
called  Byron,  that  was  devoted  to  the  General, 
and  after  a  successful  chase  it  was  rewarded  with 
many  a  demonstration  of  affection.  He  was  the 
most  lordly  dog,  I  think,  I  ever  saw,  powerful, 
with  deep  chest,  and  carrying  his  head  in  a  royal 
way.  When  he  started  for  a  run,  with  his  nostrils 
distended  and  his  delicate  ears  laid  back  on  his 
noble  head,  each  bound  sent  him  flying  through 
the  air.  He  hardly  touched  the  elastic  cushions 
of  his  feet  to  earth,  before  he  again  was  spread 
out  like  a  dark,  straight  thread.  This  gathering 
and  leaping  must  be  seen,  to  realize  how  marvel- 
ous is  the  rapidity  and  how  the  motion  seems  flying, 
almost,  as  the  ground  is  scorned  except  at  a  sort 
of  spring  bound.  He  trotted  back  to  the  General, 
if  he  happened  to  be  in  advance,  with  the  rabbit 
in  his  mouth,  and,  holding  back  his  proud  head, 
delivered  the  game  only  to  his  chief.  The  tribute 
that  a  woman  pays  to  beauty  in  any  form,  I  gave 
to  Byron,  but  I  never  cared  much  for  him.  A 
greyhound's  heart  could  be  put  into  a  thimble. 
Byron  cared  for  the  General  as  much  as  his  cold 
soul  could  for  any  one,  but  it  was  not  to  be  com- 
pared with  the  dear  Ginnie  :  she  was  all  love,  she 
was  almost  human. 

The  dog  was  in  an  injured  state  with  me  much 


206  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

of  the  time.  In  quarters  he  resented  all  my 
rights.  My  husband  had  a  great  fashion  of  fling- 
ing himself  on  the  bed,  or  even  on  the  floor,  if  it 
was  carpeted.  He  told  me  he  believed  he  must 
unconsciously  have  acquired  the  habit  at  West 
Point,  where  the  zeal  of  the  cadet  seems  divided 
between  his  studies  and  an  effort  to  keep  the 
wrinkles  out  of  the  regulation  white  pantaloons, 
which,  being  of  duck,  are  easily  creased.  What 
punishment  Government  sees  fit  to  inflict  for  each 
separate  crease,  I  don't  know,  but  certainly  its 
embryo  soldiers  have  implanted  in  them  a  fear  of 
consequences,  even  regarding  rumpled  linen.  As 
soon  as  the  General  tossed  himself  on  the  bed, 
Byron  walked  to  him  and  was  invited  to  share  the 
luxury.  "  Certainly,"  my  husband  used  to  say,  sar- 
castically; "  walk  right  up  here  on  this  clean  white 
spread,  without  troubling  yourself  to  care  whether 
your  feet  are  covered  with  mud  or  not.  Your 
Aunt  Eliza  wants  you  to  lie  on  nice  white  counter- 
panes ;  she  washes  them  on  purpose  for  you." 
Byron  answered  this  invitation  by  licking  his  host's 
hand,  and  turning  in  the  most  scornful  manner  on 
me,  as  I  uttered  a  mild  protest  regarding  his 
muddy  paws.  The  General  quickly  remarked  that 
I  made  invidious  distinctions,  as  no  spread  seemed 
too  fine  or  white  for  Ginnie,  in  my  mind,  while 
if  Eliza  happened  to  enter,  a  pair  of  blazing  eyes 


A  JEALOUS  DOG.  2OJ 

and  an  energetically  expressed  opinion  of  Byron 
ensued,  and  he  retorted  by  lifting  his  upper  lip  over 
some  of  the  whitest  fangs  I  ever  saw.  The  Gen- 
eral, still  aiding  and  abetting,  asked  the  dog  to  let 
Aunt  Eliza  see  what  an  intelligent,  knowing  animal 
he  was,  how  soon  he  distinguished  his  friends  from 
his  foes.  Such  an  exasperating  brute,  and  such  a 
tormenting  master,  were  best  left  alone.  But  I 
was  tired,  and  wanted  to  lie  down,  so  I  told  Eliza 
that  if  she  would  stand  there,  I  would  try  the 
broom,  a  woman's  weapon,  on  his  royal  highness. 
Byron  wouldn't  budge,  and  growled  even  at  me. 
Then  I  quite  meekly  took  what  little  place  was 
left,  the  General's  sense  of  mischief,  and  his 
peculiar  fondness  for  not  interfering  in  a  fight, 
now  coming  in  to  keep  him  silent.  The 
dog  rolled  over,  and  shammed  sleep,  but  soon 
planting  his  feet  against  my  back,  which  was 
turned  in  high  dudgeon,  he  pushed  and  pushed, 
seemingly  without  premeditation,  his  dreadful 
eyes  shut,  until  I  was  nearly  shoved  off. '  I 
was  conquered,  and  rose  afraid  of  the  dog  and 
momentarily  irritated  at  my  defeat  and  his 
tyranny,  while  Eliza  read  a  lesson  to  the  General. 
She  said,  "  Now  see  what  you've  done.  You  keer 
more  for  that  pesky,  sassy  old  hound  than  you  does 
for  Miss  Libbie.  Ginnel,  I'd  be  'shamed,  if  I  was 
you.  What  would  your  mother  Custer  think  of 


208  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

you  now  ?  "  But  my  feelings  were  not  seriously 
hurt,  and  the  General,  having  watched  to  the  last 
to  see  how  far  the  brute  would  carry  his  jealousy, 
gave  him  a  kick  that  sent  him  sprawling  on  the 
floor,  springing  up  to  restore  me  to  my  place  and 
close  the  colored  harangue  that  was  going  on  at 
the  foot  of  the  bed.  Eliza  rarely  dignified  me 
with  the  honor  of  being  referee  in  any  disputed 
question.  She  used  to  say,  "  No  matter  whether 
it's  right  or  wrong,  Miss  Libbie's  sho'  to  side  with 
the  Ginnel."  Her  droll  way  of  treating  him  like  a 
big  boy  away  from  home  for  the  first  time, 
alwrays  amused  him.  She  threatened  to  tell  his 
mother,  and  brought  up  that  sainted  woman  in  all 
our  encounters,  as  she  did  in  the  dog  episode 
just  mentioned,  as  if  the  very  name  would  restore 
order  at  once,  and  give  Eliza  her  own  way  in 
regulating  us.  But  dear  mother  Custer  had  been 
in  the  midst  of  too  many  happy  scuffles,  and  the 
centre  of  too  many  friendly  fisticuffs  among  her 
active,  irrepressible  boys,  in  the  old  farm-days, 
for  the  mention  of  her  name  to  restore  order  in 
our  turbulent  household. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

BYRON  AS  A  THIEF  -  AN  EQUESTRIAN  DUDE  -  MEXICAN 
HORSE-EQUIPAGE  AND  BLANKETS  -  GENERAL  CUSTER 
VISITS  A  DEAF  AND  DUMB  ASYLUM  -  TALES  OF 
LAWLESSNESS  -  PISTOLS  EVERYWHERE  -  ENTERTAIN- 
MENTS AT  OUR  QUARTERS  -  ELIZA'S  COLORED  BALL. 


/^VNE  day  we  heard  shout  upon  shout  from 
many  a  soldier's  throat  in  camp.  The  head- 
quarters guard  and  officers'  servants,  even  the 
officers  themselves,  joined  in  the  hallooing,  and  we 
ran  out  to  see  what  could  be  the  matter.  It  was 
our  lordly  Byron.  Stately  and  superb  as  he  usu- 
ally was,  he  had  another  side  to  his  character,  and 
now  he  was  racing  up  from  camp,  a  huge  piece  of 
meat  in  his  jaws,  which  he  had  stolen  from  the 
camp-kettle  where  it  was  boiling  for  the  soldiers' 
dinner.  His  retreat  was  accompanied  with  every 
sort  of  missile  —  sticks,  boots  and  rocks  —  but  this 
dog,  that  made  himself  into  a  "  greased  streak  of 
lightning,"  as  a  colored  woman  described  him, 
bounded  on,  untouched  by  the  flying  hail  of  the 
soldiers'  wrath.  The  General  did  not  dare  to  shout 

and  dance  in  sight  of   the   men,  over   what   he 

209 


210  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

thought  so  cunning  in  this  hateful  dog,  as  he  was 
not  protected  by  the  friendly  walls  of  our  tent  ; 
but  he  chuckled,  and  his  eyes  danced,  for  the  brute 
dropped  the  hot  meat  when  he  had  looked  about 
to  discover  how  close  his  pursuers  were,  and  then, 
seeing  the  enemy  nearing  him,  picked  it  up  and 
distanced  them  all.  The  General  went  back  to  his 
tent,  and  called  Eliza,  to  torment  her  with  an 
account  of  what  "her  favorite"  had  done  all  by 
himself.  She  spared  no  words  to  express  her  opin- 
ion of  the  hated  hound,  for  Byron  was  no  respecter 
of  persons  when  the  sneaky  side  of  his  character 
was  uppermost.  He  stole  his  master's  dinner  just 
as  readily  as  the  neighbors'.  Eliza  said  no  one 
could  tell  how  many  times  he  had  made  off  with 
a  part  of  her  dinner,  just  dished  up  to  be  served, 
and  then  gone  off  on  a  prowl,  "after  he'd  gorged 
hissel,"  as  she  expressed  it,  "  hidin'  from  the  other 
dogs,  and  burying  it  in  jest  such  a  stingy  way  you 
might  'spect  from  such  a  worthless,  plunderin' 
old  villain." 

The  march  to  Austin  was  varied  by  fording. 
All  the  streams  and  rivers  were  crossed  in  that 
manner,  except  one,  where  we  used  the  ponton 
bridge.  The  Colorado  we  found  too  high  to  ford, 
and  so  made  a  detour  of  some  miles.  The  citi- 
zens were  not  unfriendly,  while  there  was  a  total 
cessation  of  work  on  the  part  of  the  negroes  until 


TEXAS  THOROUGHBREDS.  2  1 1 

our  column  went  by.  They  sat  on  the  fences  like 
a  row  of  black  crows,  and  with  their  usual  polite- 
ness made  an  attempt  to  answer  questions  the 
troops  put  to  them,  which  were  unanswerable, 
even  in  the  ingenious  brain  of  the  propounder. 
"Well,  uncle,  how  far  is  it  ten  miles  down  the 
road  from  here  ? "  If  their  feelings  were  hurt  by 
such  irrepressible  fun,  they  were  soon  healed  by 
the  lively  trade  they  kept  up  in  chickens,  eggs 
and  butter. 

The  citizens  sometimes  answered  the  General's 
salute,  and  his  interested  questions  about  the  horse 
they  rode,  by  joining  us  for  a  short  distance  on 
the  march.  The  horse-flesh  of  Texas  was  a  delight 
to  him  ;  but  I  could  not  be  so  interested  in  the 
fine  points  as  to  forget  the  disfiguring  brands  that 
were  often  upon  the  fore-shoulder,  as  well  as  the 
flank.  They  spoke  volumes  for  the  country  where 
a  man  has  to  sear  a  thoroughbred  with  a  hot  iron, 
to  ensure  his  keeping  possession.  Father  Custer 
used  to  say,  "What  sort  of  country  is  this,  any- 
how, when  a  man,  in  order  to  keep  his  property, 
has  got  to  print  the  whole  constitution  of  the 
United  States  on  his  horse?"  The  whole  get  up 
of  the  Texans  was  rather  cumbersome,  it  seemed 
to  me,  though  they  rode  perfectly.  They  fre- 
quently had  a  Mexican  saddle,  heavily  ornamented 
with  silver  on  the  high  pommel,  and  everywhere 


2  I  2  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

else  that  it  could  be  added.  Even  the  design  of 
the  stamped  leather,  for  which  Mexico  is  famous, 
was  embroidered  with  silver  bullion.  The  stirrup 
had  handsome  leather  covers,  while  a  fringe  of 
thongs  fell  almost  to  the  ground,  to  aid  in  pushing 
their  way  through  the  tall  prairie  grass.  Some- 
times the  saddle-cloth,  extending  to  the  crupper, 
was  of  fur.  The  bridle  and  bit  were  rich  with 
silver  also.  On  the  massive  silver  pommel  hung 
an  incongruous  coil  of  horse-hair  rope,  disfiguring 
and  ugly.  There  was  an  iron  picket-pin  attached 
to  the  lariat,  which  we  soon  learned  was  of  ines- 
timable value  in  the  long  rides  that  the  Texans 
took.  If  a  man  made  a  halt,  he  encircled  himself 
with  this  prickly  lariat  and  lay  down  securely, 
knowing  that  no  snake  could  cross  that  barrier. 
In  a  land  of  venomous  serpents,  it  behooved  a 
man  to  carry  his  own  abatis  everywhere.  The 
saddle  was  also  secured  by  a  cinch  or  girth  of  cow's- 
hair,  which  hard  riders  found  a  great  help  iri  keep- 
ing the  saddle  firm.  The  Texan  himself, though  not 
often  wearing  the  high-crowned,  silver-embroid- 
ered Mexican  sombrero,  wore  usually  a  wide- 
brimmed  felt  hat,  on  which  the  General  afterward 
doted,  as  the  felt  was  of  superior  quality.  If  the 
term  "  dude "  had  been  invented  then,  it  would 
often  have  applied  to  a  Texan  horseman.  The  hair 
was  frequently  long,  and  they  wore  no  waistcoat, 


AN  EQUESTRIAN  "DUDES*  213 

I  concluded,  because  they  could  better  display  the 
vast  expanse  of  shirt-front.  While  the  General 
and  his  casual  companion  in  our  march  talked 
horse,  too  absorbed  to  notice  anything  else,  I 
used  to  lose  myself  in  the  contemplation  of  the 
maze  of  tucks,  puffs  and  embroidery  of  this  cam- 
bric finery,  ornamented  with  three  old-fashioned 
bosom-pins.  The  wearer  seemed  to  me  to  repre- 
sent two  epochs :  the  fine  linen,  side-saddle  and 
blooded  horse  belonged  to  "  befo'  the  war  ;"  while 
the  ragged  elbows  of  the  coat-sleeves,  and  the 
worn  boots,  w^ere  decidedly  "since  the  war."  If 
the  shirt-front  was  intricate  in  its  workmanship, 
the  boots  were  ignored  by  the  placid  owner. 

They  usually  had  the  Mexican  serape  strapped  to 
the  back  of  the  saddle,  or,  if  it  was  cold,  as  it  was 
in  our  late  November  march,  they  put  their  head 
through  the  opening  in  the  middle,  so  woven  for 
that  purpose,  and  flung  the  end  across  their  breast 
and  over  one  shoulder  in  a  picturesque  manner. 
The  bright  hues  of  the  blanket,  dyed  by  the 
Indians  from  the  juice  of  the  prickly  pear,  its  soft, 
flexible  folds  having  been  woven  in  a  hand-loom, 
made  a  graceful  and  attractive  bit  of  color,  which 
was  not  at  all  out  of  place  in  that  country.  These 
blankets  were  valuable  possessions.  They  were 
so  pliable  and  perfectly  water-proof,  that  they  pro- 
tected one  from  every  storm.  We  had  a  pair, 


1 1 4  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

which  we  used  through  every  subsequent  cam- 
paign, and  when  the  cold  in  Kansas  and  Dakota 
became  almost  unbearable,  sometimes,  after  the 
the  long  trial  of  a  journey  in  the  wagon,  my 
husband  used  to  say,  "  We  will  resort  to  extreme 
measures,  Libbie,  and  wrap  you  in  the  Mexican 
blankets."  They  were  the  warmest  of  all  our 
wraps.  Nothing  seemed  to  fade  them,  and  even 
when  burnt  with  Tom's  cigarette  ashes,  or  stuck 
through  with  the  General's  spurs,  they  did  not 
ravel,  as  do  other  fabrics.  They  have  hung  as  por- 
tieres in  my  little  home,  and  the  design  and  color- 
ing are  so  like  the  Persian  rug  on  the  floor,  that  it 
seems  to  be  an  argument  to  prove  that  Mr.  Igna 
tius  Donnelly,  in  his  theory  of  Atlantis,  is  right, 
and  that  we  once  had  a  land  highway  between 
the  East  and  Mexico,  and  that  the  reason  the  Aztec 
now  uses  the  designs  on  his  pottery  and  in  his 
weaving  is,  that  his  ancestors  brought  over  the 
first  sketches  on  papyrus.* 

*  In  a  town  of  Mexico  last  year  I  saw  these  small  looms  with 
blankets  in  them,  in  various  stages  of  progress,  in  many  cot- 
tages. Among  the  Indians  the  rude  loom  is  carried  about  in  the 
mountain  villages,  and  with  some  tribes  there  is  a  superstition 
about  finishing  the  blankets  in  the  same  place  where  they  were  be- 
gun. A  squaw  will  sometimes  have  one  half  done,  and  if  an 
order  is  given  her  she  will  not  break  over  her  rule  to  finish  it  if  a 
move  is  made  in  the  midst  of  her  work.  She  waits  until  the  next 
year,  when  her  people  return  to  the  same  camp,  as  is  the  custom 
when  the  Indian  seeks  certain  game  or  grazing,  or  to  cut  longer 
poles. 


STABLING.  2  1 5 

A  Texan  travels  for  comfort  and  safety  rather 
than  for  style.  If  a  norther  overtakes  him,  he 
dismounts  and  drives  the  picket-pin  into  the 
ground,  thus  tethering  his  horse,  which  turns  his 
back,  the  better  to  withstand  the  oncoming  wind. 
The  master  throws  himself  face  down  in  the  long 
grass,  buried  in  his  blanket,  and  thus  awaits  the 
termination  of  the  fury  with  which  the  storm 
sweeps  a  Texas  prairie. 

Sometimes  one  of  the  planters,  after  riding  a 
distance  with  us,  talking  the  county  over,  and 
taking  in  every  point  of  our  horses  as  he  rode, 
made  his  adieus  and  said  he  was  now  at  his  own 
place,  where  he  turned  in.  The  General  followed 
his  fine  thoroughbred  with  longing  eyes,  and  was 
more  than  astonished  to  find  in  what  stables  they 
kept  these  valuable  and  delicate  animals.  No 
matter  if  the  house  was  habitable,  the  stable  was 
usually  in  a  state  of  careless  dilapidation.  Doors 
swung  on  one  hinge,  and  clap-boards  were  torn 
off  here  and  there,  while  the  warped  roof  was  far 
from  weather-proof.  Even  though  Texas  is  in 
the  "  Sunny  South,"  the  first  sharp  norther 
awakens  one  to  the  knowledge  that  it  is  not 
always  summer.  Sometimes  these  storms  are 
quickly  over,  but  frequently  they  last  three  days. 
This  carelessness  about  stabling  stock  was  not 
owing  to  the  depredations  of  an  invading  army. 


2 1 6  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

We  were  the  first  "  Yankees  "  they  had  seen.  It 
was  the  general  shiftlessness  that  creeps  into  one's 
veins.  We  were  not  long  there  ourselves  before 
climatic  influence  had  its  effect  on  even  the  most 
active  among  us. 

Before  we  reached  Austin,  several  citizens  sent 
out  invitations  for  us  to  come  to  their  houses  ;  but 
I  knew  the  General  would  not  accept,  and,  cold 
as  the  nights  were,  I  felt  unwilling  to  lose  a  day 
of  camp  life.  We  pitched  our  tents  on  rolling 
ground  in  the  vicinity  of  Austin,  where  we  over- 
looked a  pretty  town  of  stuccoed  houses  that 
appeared  summery  in  the  midst  of  the  live-oak's 
perennial  green.  The  State  House,  Land  Office, 
and  governor's  mansion  looked  regal  to  us,  so 
long  bivouacking  in  the  forest  and  on  uncultivated 
prairies.  The  governor  offered  for  our  head- 
quarters the  Blind  Asylum,  which  had  been  closed 
during  the  war.  This  possessed  one  advantage 
that  we  were  glad  to  improve:  there  was  room 
enough  for  all  the  staff,  and  a  long  saloon  parlor 
and  dining-room  for  our  hops  during  the  winter. 
By  this  time  two  pretty,  agreeable  women,  wives 
of  staff -officers,  were  added  to  our  circle. 
Still,  I  went  into  the  building  with  regret.  The 
wagon  in  which  the  wind  had  rocked  me  to  sleep 
so  often,  and  which  had  proved  such  a  stronghold 
against  the  crawling  foes  of  the  country,  was  con- 


AGAIN  UNDER  A  ROOF.  2 1  7 

signed  to  the  stable  with  a  sigh.     Camp  life  had 
more  pleasures  than  hardships. 

There  were  three  windows  in  our  room,  which 
we  opened  at  night ;  but,  notwithstanding  the  air 
that  circulated,  the  feeling,  after  having  been  so 
long  out  of  doors,  was  suffocating.  The  ceiling 
seemed  descending  to  smother  us.  There  was 
one  joy:  reveille  could  ring  out  on  the  dawning 
day,  and  there  was  no  longer  imperative  necessity 
to  spring  from  a  warm  bed  and  make  ablutions 
in  ice-water.  There  is  a  good  deal  of  that  sort  of 
mental  snapping  of  the  fingers  on  the  part  of 
campaigners  when  they  are  again  stationary  and 
need  not  prepare  for  a  march.  Civilization  and  a 
looking-glass  must  now  be  assumed,  as  it  would 
no  longer  do  to  rough  it  and  ignore  appearances, 
after  we  had  moved  into  a  house,  and  were  to 
live  like  "  folks."  Besides,  we  soon  began  to  be 
invited  by  the  townspeople  to  visit  them.  Re- 
fined, agreeable  and  well-dressed  women  came 
to  see  us,  and,  woman-like,  we  ran  our  eyes  over 
their  dresses.  They  were  embroidered  and  trim- 
med richly  with  lace,  "  befo'  the  war  "  finery  or 
from  the  cargo  of  a  blockade  runner ;  but  it  was 
all  strange  enough  in  such  an  isolated  State.  Al- 
most everything  was  then  brought  from  the  ter- 
minus of  the  Brenham  Railroad  to  Austin,  150 
miles,  by  ox-team.  We  had  been  anxiously  ex- 


2 1 S  TfiNTING  aV  TffJS  PLAINS. 

pected  for  some  time,  and  there  was  no  manner  of 
doubt  that  the  arrival  of  the  Division  was  a  great 
relief  to  the  reputable  of  both  sides.  They  said 
so  frankly — the  returned  Confederate  officers  and 
the  "  stay-at-home  rangers,"  as  well  as  the  newly 
appointed  Union  governor. 

Texas  was  then  a  "  go-as-you-please  "  State,  and 
the  lawlessness  was  terrible.  The  returned  Con- 
federate soldiers  were  poor,  and  did  not  know 
how  to  set  themselves  to  work,  and  in  many 
instances  preferred  the  life  of  a  freebooter.  It 
was  so  easy,  if  a  crime  was  committed,  to  slip 
into  Mexico,  for  though  it  was  inaccessible  except 
by  stage  or  on  horseback,  a  Texan  would  not 
mind  a  forced  march  over  the  country  to  the  Rio 
Grande.  There  were  then  but  one  or  two  short 
railroads  in  operation.  The  one  from  Galveston 
to  Brenham  was  the  principal  one,  while  telegraph 
lines  were  not  in  use.  The  stage  to  Brenham  was 
our  one  means  of  communication  with  the  out- 
side world. 

It  was  hard  for  the  citizens  who  had  remained 
at  home  to  realize  that  war  was  over,  and  some 
were  unwilling  to  believe  there  ever  had  been  an 
emancipation  proclamation.  In  the  northern  part 
of  the  State  they  were  still  buying  and  selling 
slaves.  The  lives  of  the  newly  appointed  United 
States  officers  were  threatened  daily,  and  it  was 


A  PA  TRlOtlC  GIRL.  $  \  g 

an  uneasy  head  that  wore  the  gubernatorial  crown. 
I  thought  them  braver  men  than  many  who  had 
faced  the  enemy  in  battle.  The  unseen,  lurking 
foe  that  hides  under  cover  of  darkness  was  their 
terror.  They  held  themselves  valiantly;  but  one 
wife  and  daughter  were  on  my  mind  night  after 
night,  as  from  dark  till  dawn  they  slept  un- 
easily, and  started  from  their  rooms  out  into 
the  halls  at  every  strange  sound.  The  Gen- 
eral and  I  thought  the  courageous  daughter 
had  enough  brave,  devoted  blood  in  her  veins 
to  distill  a  portion  into  the  heart  of  many  a 
soldier  who  led  a  forlorn  hope.  They  told  us  that 
in  the  early  part  of  the  war  the  girl  had  known  of 
a  Union  flag  in  the  State  House,  held  in  derision 
and  scornfully  treated  by  the  extremists.  She  and 
her  younger  brother  climbed  upon  the  roof  of  a 
wing  of  the  building,  after  dark,  entered  a  window 
of  the  Capitol,  found  the  flag,  concealed  it  in  the 
girl's  clothing,  and  made  their  perilous  descent 
safely.  The  father  of  such  a  daughter  might  well 
prize  her  watchfulness  of  his  safety,  as  she 
vigilantly  kept  it  up  during  our  stay,  and  was 
equal  to  a  squadron  of  soldiers.  She  won  our  ad- 
miration; and  our  bachelor  officers  paid  the  tribute 
that  brave  men  always  pay  to  courageous,  unsel- 
fish women,  for  she  danced,  rode  and  walked 
with  them,  and  when  she  was  not  so  engaged, 


22O  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

their  orderlies  held  their  horses  before  the  official 
door,  while  they  improved  every  hour  allowed 
them  within  the  hospitable  portal. 

It  was  a  great  relief  to  find  a  Southern  State 
that  was  not  devastated  by  the  war.  The  homes 
destroyed  in  Virginia  could  not  fail  to  move  a 
woman's  heart,  as  it  was  women  and  children  that 
suffered  from  such  destruction.  In  Texas  nothing 
seemed  to  have  been  altered.  I  suppose  some 
profited,  for  blockade-running  could  be  carried  on 
from  the  ports  of  that  great  State,  and  there  was 
always  Mexico  from  which  to  draw  supplies. 

In  our  daily'rides  we  found  the  country  about 
Austin  delightful.  The  roads  were  smooth 
and  the  surface  rolling.  Indeed,  there  was  one 
high  hill,  called  Mount  Brunnel,  where  we  had 
picnics  and  enjoyed  the  fine  view,  far  and  near, 
taking  one  of  the  bands  of  the  regular  regiments 
from  the  North  that  joined  us  soon  after  our  ar- 
rival. Mount  Brunnel  was  so  steep  we  had  to  dis- 
mount and  climb  a  part  of  the  distance.  The  band 
played  the  "Anvil  Chorus,"  and  the  sound  descend- 
ed through  the  valley  grandly.  The  river,  filled 
with  sand-bars  and  ugly  on  close  examination, 
looked  like  a  silver  ribbon.  At  that  height,  the 
ripened  cotton,  at  certain  seasons  of  the  year, 
looked  like  fields  of  foam.  The  thermometer  was 
over  eighty  before  we  left  the  lowlands;  but  at  the 


CHILDREN '  S  SIGN  LANG  UA  GE.  221 

altitude  to  which  we  climbed  the  air  was  cool.  We 
even  went  once  to  the  State  Insane  Asylum,  taking 
the  band,  when  the  attendants  asked  if  dancing 
music  might  be  played,  and  we  watched  with 
wonder  the  quadrille  of  an  insane  eight. 

The  favorite  ride  for  my  husband  was  across 
the  Colorado,  to  the  Deaf  and  Dumb  Asylum. 
There  seemed  to  be  a  fascination  for  him  in  the 
children,  who  were  equally  charmed  with  the 
young  soldier  that  silently  watched  their  pretty, 
pathetic  exhibitions  of  intelligent  speech  by 
gesture.  My  husband  riveted  his  gaze  on  their 
speaking  eyes,  and  as  their  instructor  spelt  the 
passions  of  love,  hatred,  remorse  and  reverence 
on  his  fingers,  one  little  girl  represented  them  by 
singularly  graceful  gestures,  charming  him,  and 
filling  his  eyes  with  tears,  which  he  did  not  seek 
to  hide.  The  pupils  were  from  ten  to  sixteen 
years  of  age.  Their  supple  wrists  were  a 
delight  to  us,  and  the  tiny  hands  of  a  child  of  the 
matron,  whom  the  General  held,  talked  in  a 
cunning  way  to  its  playmates,  who,  it  knew, 
could  not  comprehend  its  speech.  It  was  well 
that  the  Professor  was  hospitality  itself,  and  did 
not  mind  a  cavalcade  dashing  up  the  road  to  his 
house.  My  husband,  when  he  did  not  openly 
suggest  going,  used  some  subterfuge  as  trivial  as 
going  for  water-cress,  that  grew  in  a  pond  near 


222  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

the  Asylum.  The  children  knew  him,  and  wel- 
comed him  with  lustrous,  eloquent  eyes,  and  went 
untiringly  through  their  little  exhibitions,  learn- 
ing to  bring  him  their  compositions,  examples 
and  maps,  for  his  commendation.  How  little  we 
thought  then  that  the  lessons  he  was  taking, 
in  order  to  talk  with  the  children  he  learned 
to  love,  would  soon  come  into  use  while  sitting 
round  a  camp-fire  and  making  himself  understood 
by  Indians.  Of  course,  their  sign-language  is 
wholly  their  own,  but  it  is  the  same  method  of 
using  the  simplest  signs  as  expressive  of  thought. 
It  was  a  long,  pleasant  ride;  its  only  drawback  to 
me  being  the  fording  of  the  river,  which  had 
quicksands  and  a  rapid  current.  The  Colorado 
was  low,  but  the  river-bed  was  wide  and  filled 
with  sand-bars.  The  mad  torrent  that  the  citizens 
told  us  of  in  freshets,  we  did  not  see.  If  I  fol- 
lowed my  husband,  as  Custis  Lee  had  learned  to 
do,  I  found  myself  guided  safely,  but  it  some- 
times happened  that  our  party  entered  the  river, 
laughing  and  talking  so  earnestly,  noisily  and 
excitedly  that  we  forgot  caution.  One  lesson  was 
enough  ;  the  sensation  of  the  sinking  of  the 
horse's  hind  legs  in  quicksands  is  not  to  be  for- 
gotten. The  loud  cry  of  the  General  to  "  saw  en 
the  bit"  or  whip  my  horse,  excited,  frightened 
directions  from  the  staff  to  turn  to  the  right  or  the 


PISTOLS  AND  BOWIE-KNIVES.  22$ 

left,  Custis  Lee  trembling  and  snorting  with  fear, 
but  responding  to  a  cruel  cut  of  my  whip  (for  I 
rarely  struck  him),  and  we  plunged  on  to  a  firmer 
soil,  wiser  for  all  the  future  on  account  of  that 
moment  of  serious  peril. 

We  seldom  rode  through  the  town,  as  my  hus- 
band disliked  the  publicity  that  a  group  of 
cavalrymen  must  necessarily  cause  in  a  city  street. 
If  we  were  compelled  to,  the  staff  and  Tom 
pointed  out  one  after  another  of  the  loungers 
about  the  stores,  or  the  horseman  who  had  killed 
his  man.  It  seemed  to  be  thought  the  necessary 
thing,  to  establish  the  Texan's  idea  of  courage,  to 
have  either  fought  in  duels,  or,  by  waylaying  the 
enemy,  to  have  killed  from  one  to  five  men.  The 
Southern  climate  seems  to  keep  alive  a  feud  that 
our  cold  Northern  winters  freeze  out.  Bad  blood 
was  never  kept  in  abeyance  ;  they  had  out  their 
bursts  of  temper  when  the  attack  of  rage  came  on. 
Each  man,  even  the  boys  of  twelve,  went  armed. 
I  used  to  wonder  at  the  humped-up  coats  until  a 
norther,  before  which  we  were  one  day  scudding 
for  safety,  lifted  the  coats  of  men  making  a 
similar  dash,  and  the  pistol  was  revealed. 

It  was  the  favorite  pastime  of  our  men  (having 
concocted  the  scheme  with  the  General)  to  ride 
near  some  of  the  outskirts,  and,  when  we  reached 
some  lone  tree,  tell  me  that  from  that  limb  a  mur- 


224  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

dered  man  had  lately  swung.  This  grim  joke  was 
often  practiced  on  me,  in  order  that  the  shuddering 
horror  and  the  start  Custis  Lee  and  I  made,  to 
skim  over  the  country  away  from  such  a  hated 
spot,  might  be  enjoyed.  I  came  to  think  the 
Texas  trees  bore  that  human  fruit  a  little  too  often 
for  truth ;  but  some  of  the  citizens  gloated  over 
these  scenes  of  horror,  and  added  a  lamp-post  in 
town  to  the  list  of  localities  from  which,  in  future, 
I  must  turn  away  my  head. 

The  negroes  of  Texas  and  Louisiana  were  the 
worst  in  all  the  South.  The  border  States  had 
commonly  sold  their  most  insubordinate  slaves  in- 
to these  two  distant  States.*  Fortunately,  our  now 
well-disciplined  Division  and  the  regular  cavalry 
kept  everything  in  a  better  condition  ;  but  there 
were  constantly  individual  cases  of  outrageous  con- 
duct, and  often  of  crime,  among  whites  and  blacks, 

*In  order  to  gain  some  idea  of  the  immense  territory  in  which  our 
troops  were  attempting  to  restore  order,  I  have  only  to  remind  the 
reader  that  Texas  is  larger  than  either  the  German  or  the  Austrian 
Empire.  The  area  of  the  State  is  274,356  square  miles.  It  is  as 
large  as  France,  Belgium,  England  and  Wales  all  combined.  If  we 
could  place  the  northwestern  corner  of  Texas  at  Chicago,  its  most 
southerly  point  would  be  at  Jacksonville,  Fla.,  its  most  easterly 
at  Petersburg, Va.,  and  its  most  westerly  in  the  interior  of  Missouri. 
It  would  thus  cover  the  entire  States  of  Indiana,  Kentucky  and  the 
two  Carolinas,  and  nearly  all  of  Tennessee,  with  one-third  of  Ohio, 
two-thirds  of  Virginia,  half  of  Georgia,  and  portions  of  Florida,  Ala 
bama,  Illinois  and  Missouri.  The  cities  of  Chicago,  Toledo,  Cin- 
cinnati, Washington,  Richmond,  Charleston,  Atlanta  and  Nashville 
would  all  be  included  within  its  borders. 


HOME  OF  THE  DESPERADO.  225 

high  and  low.  Texas  had  so  long  been  looked  upon 
as  a  sort  of  "  city  of  refuge  "  by  outlaws,  that  those 
whom  the  other  States  refused  to  harbor  came  to 
that  locality.  A  country  reached  only  by  sea  from 
the  south  or  by  a  wagon-train  from  the  north,  and 
through  which  no  telegraph  lines  ran  until  after 
we  came,would  certainly  offer  an  admirable  hiding- 
place  for  those  who  leave  their  country  for  their 
country's  good.  I  have  read  somewhere  that  Texas 
derived  its  name  from  a  group  of  rascals,  who,  sit- 
ting round  a  fire  on  their  arrival  on  the  soil  that 
was  to  protect  them,  composed  this  couplet : 

"  If  every  other  land  forsakes  us, 
This  is  the  land  that  freely  takes  us  (Texas)." 

As  story  after  story  reached  us,  I  began  to  think 
the  State  was  well  named.  There  were  a  great 
many  excellent,  law-abiding  citizens,  but  not 
enough  to  leaven  the  lump  at  that  chaotic  period. 
Even  the  women  learned  to  defend  themselves, 
as  the  war  had  deprived  them  of  their  natural 
protectors,  who  had  gone  either  in  the  Northern  or 
the  Southern  army — for  Texas  had  a  cavalry  regi- 
ment of  refugees  in  our  service.  One  woman,  while 
we  were  there,  found  a  teamster  getting  into  her 
window,  and  shot  him  fatally.  Fire-arms  were  so 
constantly  about — for  the  men  did  not  dress  with- 
out a  pistol  in  their  belts — that  women  grew  ac- 


226  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

customed  to  the  sight  of  weapons.  There  was  a 
lady  of  whom  I  constantly  heard,  rich  and  re- 
fined, but  living  out  of  town  on  a  plantation  that 
seemed  to  be  fit  only  for  negroes.  She  rode  fear- 
lessly, and  diverted  her  monotonous  life  by  hunt- 
ing. The  planters  frequently  met  her  with  game 
slung  upon  her  saddle,  and  once  she  lassoed  and 
brought  in  a  wolf  alone.  Finally  this  woman 
came  to  see  me,  but  curiosity  made  me  hardly 
civil  for  a  few  moments,  as  I  was  trying  to  recon- 
cile myself  to  the  knowledge,  that  the  quiet,  grace- 
ful woman  before  me,  with  rich  dress,  jewels  and 
a  French  hat,  could  take  her  gun  and  dogs,  mount 
a  fiery  horse,  and  go  hunting  alone.  We  found, 
on  returning  the  visit,  that,  though  they  were  rich, 
owning  blooded  horses,  a  plantation  and  a  mill, 
their  domicile  was  anything  but  what  we  at  the 
North  would  call  comfortable.  It  was  a  long, 
one-storied,  log  building,  consisting  of  a  parlor, 
dining-room,  bedroom  and  two  small  "  no-'count  " 
rooms,  as  the  servants  said,  all  opening  into  one 
another  and  upon  the  porch.  The  first  surprise 
on  entering  was,  that  the  roof  did  not  fit  down 
snugly  on  the  side  wall.  A  strip  of  the  blue  sky 
was  visible  on  three  sides,  while  the  partition  of  the 
dining-room  only  came  up  part  way.  There 
seemed  to  be  no  sort  of  provision  for  "  Caudle 
lectures."  The  walls  were  roughly  plastered,  but 


WALLS  HA  VE  EARS.  2  2  7 

this  space  just  under  the  roof  was  for  ventilation, 
and  I  fancied  they  would  get  enough  of  it  during 
a  norther. 

I  am  reminded  of  a  story  that  one  of  the  witty 
Southern  women  told  me,  after  repeating  some 
very  good  comic  verses,  in  which  they  excel.  She 
said  the  house  I  described  was  not  uncommon  in 
Texas,  and  that  once  she  was  traveling  over  a  por- 
tion of  the  State,  on  a  journey  of  great  suffering, 
as  she  was  accompanying  her  husband's  remains 
to  a  family  burial-ground.  They  assisted  her 
from  her  carriage  into  one  of  the  rooms  of  a  long 
log  house,  used  as  a  wayside  inn,  and  the  landlady 
kindly  helped  her  into  bed,  as  she  was  prostrated 
with  suffering  and  fatigue.  After  she  left  her, 
the  landlady  seemed  to  forget  that  the  partition 
did  not  extend  to  the  rafters,  and  began  question- 
ing her  servant  as  to  what  was  the  matter,  etc. 
Hearing  that  the  lady  had  lost  her  husband,  the 
old  dame  exclaimed,  sympathetically,  "  Poor 
thing  !  Poor  thing  !  I  know  how  it  is;  I've  lost 
three  of  'em." 

The  General  and  his  staff  got  a  good  deal  of 
sport  out  of  the  manner  in  which  they  exagger- 
ated the  tales  of  bloodshed  to  me,  and  aroused 
the  anger,  grief  and  horror  that  I  could  not  sup- 
press. I  must  defend  myself  from  the  supposition 
that  I  may  have  been  chronicling  their  absurd  and 


228  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

highly  colored  tales.  All  that  1  have  written,  I 
have  either  seen  or  have  reliable  authority  for. 
Their  astounding  stories,  composed  among  them- 
selves, began  with  a  concocted  plan  by  which  one 
casually  started  a  story,  the  others  met  it  with 
surprise  and  with  an  "  Is  it  possible?"  and  the 
next  led  up  to  some  improbable  narrative  of  the 
General's — I  growing  more  and  more  shivery  as 
the  wicked  tormentors  advanced.  Always  rather 
gullible,  I  suppose,  I  must  confess  the  torn  and 
distracted  state  of  society  in  Texas  made  every- 
thing they  said  seem  probable.  I  don't  know  how 
long  I  kept  up  a  fashion  of  starting  and  shudder- 
ing over  the  frequent  crack  of  a  rifle  or  pistol,  as 
we  rode  through  the  woods  about  the  town.  My 
husband  and  his  attendant  scamps  did  all  they 
could  to  confirm  my  belief  that  the  woods  were 
full  of  assassins,  and  I  rode  on  after  these  sharp 
reports,  expecting  to  come  upon  the  lifeless  re- 
mains of  a  murdered  man.  They  all  said,  with 
well  assumed  feeling,  that  Texas  was  an  awful 
country  in  which  to  live,  where  a  man's  life  was 
not  safe  an  hour,  and  excitedly  exclaimed  at  each 
shot,  " There  goes  some  other  poor  fellow!"  I 
have  reason  to  believe  it  was  a  serious  disappoint- 
ment to  the  whole  confederation  of  jokers,  to  have 
me  actually  see  a  Mexican  driver  (a  greaser)  crack 
his  whip  over  the  heads  of  his  oxen,  as  they 


SOMETHING  OP  SOCIAL  LIFE. 

crawled  along  in  front  of  us  one  day  when  we 
were  riding.  There  is  no  sound  like  the  snap  of 
the  lash  of  a  "  bull-whacker,"  as  they  are  called, 
and  perhaps  brighter  women  than  I  am  might  have 
been  taken  in  by  it,  and  thought  it  a  pistol-shot. 
This  ended  my  taking  it  as  the  signal  of  a  death. 
The  lawlessness  of  the  State  was  much  dimin- 
ished by  the  troops  scattered  through  the  country. 
General  Custer  was  much  occupied  in  answering 
communications  that  came  from  distant  parts 
of  Texas,  describing  the  demoralized  state  of  the 
country,  and  asking  for  troops.  These  appeals 
were  from  all  sides.  It  was  felt  more  and  more 
that  the  presence  of  the  troops  was  absolutely 
necessary,  and  it  was  certainly  agreeable  to  us 
that  we  were  not  looked  upon  as  invaders.  The 
General  then  had  thirteen  regiments  of  infantry 
and  as  many  of  cavalry,  scattered  in  every  part 
of  the  State  comprised  in  his  district.  The  regular 
troops  arriving,  brought  their  wives  and  daughters, 
and  it  was  a  great  addition,  as  we  had  constant  en- 
tertainments, in  which  the  civilians,  so  long  cut  off 
from  all  gayety,  were  glad  to  participate.  The 
staff  assisted  me  greatly  in  my  preparations.  We 
dressed  the  long  parlors  in  evergreens,  made  cano- 
pies of  flags,  arranged  wax-lights  in  impromptu 
wooden  sconces,  and  with  the  waxed  floor  it  was 
tempting  enough  to  those  who  cared  for  dancing. 


230  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

The  soldiers  soon  organized  a  string  band,  and  a 
sergeant  called  off  the  quadrilles.  Sometimes  my 
husband  planned  and  arranged  the  suppers  alone, 
but  usually  the  staff  divided  the  duty  of  prepar- 
ing the  refreshments.  Occasionally  we  attempted 
a  dinner,  and,  as  we  wanted  to  invite  our  own 
ladies  as  well  as  some  from  the  regular  regiments, 
the  table  was  a  subject  of  study  ;  for  when  twenty 
came,  the  dishes  gave  out.  The  staff  dined  early, 
so  that  we  could  have  theirs,  and  the  Southern 
woman  who  occupied  two  rooms  in  the  building 
lent  everything  she  had.  Uncle  Charley,  our 
cook,  who  now  had  found  a  colored  church  in 
which  to  preach  on  Sunday,  did  up  all  his  religion 
on  that  day,  and  swore  all  the  week,  but  the  cellar- 
kitchen  was  distant,  and,  besides,  my  husband 
used  to  argue  that  it  was  just  as  well  to  endure 
placidly  the  evils  right  about  us,  but  not  to  seek 
for  more.  The  swearing  did  not  interfere  with 
the  cooking,  and  Charley  thought  it  necessary  to 
thus  clear  the  kitchen,  as  our  yard  at  that  time 
was  black  with  the  colored  race.  Each  officer's 
servant  had  his  circle  of  friends,  and  they  hovered 
round  us  like  a  dark  cloud.  The  dishes  that 
Uncle  Charley  sent  up  were  excellent.  The  Texas 
beef  and  poultry  were  of  superior  quality,  and  we 
even  had  a  respite  from  condensed  milk,  as  a 
citizen  had  lent  us  a  cow. 


CHAGRIN  OF  A  HOSTESS.  23  I 

At  one  of  these  dinners  Eliza  had  enlisted  a 
colored  boy  to  help  her  wait  on  the  table.  I  had 
tried  to  borrow  enough  dishes,  and  thought  the 
table  was  provided.  But  the  glory  of  the  occa- 
sion departed  when,  after  soup,  roast  game,  etc., 
all  served  with  the  great  luxury  at  that  place  of 
separate  plates,  Uncle  Charley  bethought  himself 
that  he  would  add,  as  a  surprise,  a  dessert.  It  is 
almost  unnecessary  to  say  that  a  dessert  at  that 
time  was  an  event.  Uncle  Charley  said  his  "  best 
holt "  was  on  meats,  and  his  attempts  at  pastry 
would  not  only  have  ruined  the  remnant  of  his 
temper,  but,  I  am  afraid,  if  often  indulged  in, 
would  have  effectually  finished  our  digestion. 
For  this  I  had  not  counted,  and,  to  my  dismay, 
after  the  pudding  had  been  deposited  with  great 
salaam  and  ceremony  before  the  General,  the 
colored  boy  rushed  around  and  gathered  every- 
body's coffee-saucer.  Until  he  returned  them 
washed,  and  placed  them  at  the  head  of  the  table, 
I  did  not  imagine  what  he  was  doing  ;  I  simply 
waited,  in  that  uncertain  frame  of  mind  that  a 
hostess  well  knows.  My  husband  looked  at  the 
array  of  cups  down  the  long  table,  standing  bereft 
of  their  partners,  laid  his  head  back,  and  shouted. 
Then  everybody  else  laughed,  and,  very  red  and 
very  mortified,  I  concluded  to  admit  that  I  had 
not  arranged  for  this  last  course,  and  that  on  that 


232  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

table  were  the  united  contents  of  all  our  mess- 
chests,  and  there  were  no  saucers  or  dessert-plates 
nearer  than  town.  We  were  aware  that  our 
stay  in  the  South  was  limited,  and  made  no 
effort  to  keep  enough  crockery  for  dinners  of 
twenty. 

After  many  enjoyable  parties  in  our  parlor,  we 
received  a  pathetic  and  carefully  worded  hint 
from  Eliza,  who  was  now  a  great  belle,  that  she 
would  like  to  return  some  of  the  hospitality 
shown  her  by  the  colored  people  of  the  town,  and 
my  husband  was  only  too  glad  to  prove  to  Eliza 
how  we  valued  her  faithful,  self-denying  life  in 
our  service.  We  composed  an  invitation,  in  which 
Miss  Eliza  Brown  presented  her  compliments  to 
Mr.Washington  or  Mr.  Jefferson,  as  the  case  might 
be,  and  would  be  happy  to  see  him  on  such  an 
evening,  with  the  word  "dancing"  in  the  left- 
hand  corner.  A  gathering  of  the  darkies  seemed 
equally  jubilant,  whether  it  was  a  funeral,  a  camp- 
meeting  or  a  dance ;  but  it  seemed  they  made  a 
difference  in  dress  for  these  occasions,  if  not  in 
manners.  So  it  was  best,  Eliza  thought,  to  add 
"  dancing,"  though  it  was  only  at  first  a  mirthful 
suggestion  of  the  General's  fertile  brain.  He  gave 
the  copying  to  the  office  clerk, who,  being  a  profes- 
sional penman,  put  as  many  tails  to  his  capitals 
and  flourishes  to  his  words  as  he  did  for  the  white 


A  NEGRO  BALL. 


233 


folks,  Eliza's  critical  eye  watching  for  any  less 
elaborate  embellishment. 

The  lower  part  of  the  house  was  given  over  to 
the  negroes,  who  polished  the  floor,  trimmed  the 
windows,  columns  and  chimney  with  garlands  of 
live-oak,  and  lavished  candles  on  the  scene,  while 
at  the  supper  they  had  a  heterogeneous  jumble  of 
just  what  they  asked  for,  including  coon,  the  dish 
garnished  with  watercress  and  bits  of  boiled  beet. 
I  think  we  were  not  asked  ;  but  as  the  fiddle 
started  the  jigs,  the  General's  feet  began  to  keep 
time,  and  he  executed  some  pas  seul  around  our 
bedroom,  and  then,  extracting,  as  usual,  a  promise 
from  me  not  to  laugh,  he  dragged  me  down  the 
steps,  and  we  hid  where  we  saw  it  all.  The  quadrille 
ended,  the  order  of  ceremonies  seemed  to  consist 
in  the  company  going  down  to  one  end  of  the  room 
in  response  to  an  order  from  Uncle  Charley  to 
"  clar  the  flo'."  Then  the  old  man  of  sixty,  a  grand- 
father, now  dressed  in  white  tie,  vest  and  gloves, 
with  shining  black  clothes,  took  the  floor.  He  knew 
himself  to  be  the  cynosure  of  all  eyes,  and  bore 
himself  accordingly.  He  had  previously  said  to 
me,  "  To-night,  I  expects,  Miss  Libbie,  to  put 
down  some  steps  those  colored  folks  has  never 
seen  befo'."  And  surely  he  did.  He  ambled  out, 
as  lithe  as  a  youngster,  cut  some  pigeon-wings, 
and  then  skipped  and  flung  himself  about  with 


234  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

the  agility  of  a  boy,  stopping  not  only  for  breath, 
but  to  watch  the  expressions,  envious  and  admir- 
ing, of  the  spectators  at  the  end  of  the  room. 
When  his  last  breath  was  exhausted,  Aunt  Ann, 
our  old  laundress,  came  tripping  down  the  polished 
floor,  and  executed  a  shuffle,  most  decorous  at 
first,  and  then,  reviving  her  youth,  she  struck  into 
a  hoydenish  jig,  her  son  encouraging  her  by  pat- 
ting time.  More  quadrilles,  then  another  clearing 
of  the  floor,  and  a  young  yellow  woman  pirouet- 
ted down  the  room,  in  bright  green  tarlatan 
petticoats,  very  short  and  airy.  She  executed  a 
hornpipe  and  a  reel,  and,  like  Uncle  Charley,  im- 
provised some  steps  for  the  occasion.  This  black 
sylph  was  surrounded  with  a  cloud  of  diaphanous 
drapery;  she  wreathed  her  arms  about  her  head, 
kept  on  the  smirk  of  the  ballet-girl,  and  coquetted 
and  skipped  about,  with  manners  that  brought 
down  the  house.  The  fattest  darkey  of  all  wad- 
dled down  next  and  did  a  break-down,  at  which 
all  the  assembly  patted  juba,  and  with  their 
woolly  heads  kept  time  to  the  violin.  My  husband 
never  moved  from  his  hiding-place,  but  chuckled 
and  shook  over  the  sight,  novel  to  us,  till  Eliza 
found  us  out  and  forgave  the  "  peeking." 

The  clothes  worn,  looked  as  if  the  property- 
room  of  a  third-rate  theatre  had  been  rifled — faded 
finery,  fag  ends  of  old  lace,  tumbled  flowers  that 


TOILETS  OF  THE  DANCERS. 


235 


had  done  duty  at  many  a  "white  folks'"  ball,  on 
the  pretty  costume  of  the  missus,  old  feathers  set 
up  in  the  wool,  where  what  was  left  of  the  plume 
bobbed  and  quavered,  as  the  head  of  the  owner 
moved  to  the  time  of  the  music,  or  nodded  and 
swayed  back  and  forth  while  converration  went 
on.  The  braiding,  oiling  and  smoothing  had 
gone  on  for  days  previous,  to  straighten  the  wool 
and  make  it  lie  flat ;  but  the  activity  in  the  pur- 
suit of  pleasure  soon  set  the  little  kinks  free,  and 
each  hair  stood  on  tip-toe,  joining  in  a  jig  of  its 
own.  The  powder  begged  from  the  toilet-table 
of  the  missus  was  soon  swept  away  in  the  general 
shine  ;  but  the  belles  cared  little  for  having  sus- 
pended temporarily  the  breath  of  their  rivals  by 
the  gorgeousness  of  their  toilets  ;  they  forgot  ap- 
pearances and  yielded  to  that  absorption  of 
excitement  in  which  the  colored  soul  is  spell- 
bound. 

Eliza  moved  about,  "  queening  it  "  as  she  knew 
how  to  do,  and  it  was  a  proud  hour  of  triumph  to 
her,  as  she  cast  a  complacent  side  glance  at  the 
tail  of  her  gown,  which  siie  had  wheedled  out  of 
me  by  cunning  arguments,  among  which  the  most 
powerful  was  that  "  'twas  getting  so  mussed  and 
'twasn't  no  sort  of  a  dress  for  a  GinnePs  wife,  no 
how."  The  General  lost  nothing,  for  he  sat  in  our 
hidden  corner,  shaking  and  throwing  his  head  back 


236  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

in  glee,  but  keeping  a  close  and  warning  hold  on 
my  arm,  as  I  was  not  so  successful  in  smothering  a 
titter  as  he  was,  having  no  mustache  to  deaden 
the  sound.  After  Eliza  discovered  us,  she  let  no 
one  know  of  our  perfidy,  and  the  company,  be- 
lieving they  were  alone,  abandoned  themselves 
to  complete  enjoyment  as  the  fiddle  played  havoc 
with  the  heels  of  the  entire  assembly. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

LETTERS    HOME EXTRACTS CAUGHT    BY    A    NORTHER 

LONGING     FOR    A    YANKEE    WOOD-PILE COLONEL 

GROOME     OF      l8l2 JACK     RUCKER     BEATEN    IN     A 

HORSE-RACE GINNIE      AND     HER     FAMILY OUR 

FATHER   CUSTER7S    DOG. 

HPHE  trivial  events  of  our  daily  life  were 
chronicled  in  a  weekly  letter  home,  and  from 
a  number  of  these  school-girl  effusions  I  cull  a  few 
items,  as  they  give  an  idea  of  my  husband's  recre- 
ations as  well  as  his  duties. 

"  We  are  quartered  in  the  Blind  Asylum,  which 
is  large  and  comfortable.  The  large  rooms  in  the 
main  part  of  the  building  we  can  use  for  enter- 
taining, while  the  staff  occupy  the  wings  and  the 
building  in  the  yard,  that  was  used  for  a  school- 
room. Out  there  they  can  have  all  the  '  walk- 
arounds  7  and  '  high-jinks  '  they  choose,  without 
any  one  hearing  them." 

"Our  room  is  large,  and,  mother,  I  have  two 
bureaus  and  a  wardrobe,  and  lose  my  things  con- 


238  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

stantly,  I  am  so  unused  to  so  much  room.  We 
women  hardly  knew  what  to  make  of  the  absence  of 
looking-glasses,  as  the  house  is  otherwise  furnished, 
until  it  occurred  to  us  that  the  former  occupants 
wouldn't  get  much  good  out  of  a  mirror.  It  isn't 
so  necessary  to  have  one,  after  all,  as  I  got  on  all 
summer  very  well,  after  I  learned  to  brush  my 
hair  straight  back  and  not  try  to  part  it.  I  have 
a  mirror  now,  and  am  wrestling  with  back  hair 
again. 

"  I  confess  to  you,  mother,  it  is  a  comfort  to  get 
out  of  bed  on  to  a  carpet,  and  dress  by  a  fire  ;  but 
don't  tell  Armstrong  I  said  so,  as  I  never  men- 
tioned to  him  that  dressing  before  day,  my  eyes 
streaming  with  tears  from  the  camp-fire  while  I 
took  an  ice-water  bath,  was  not  the  mode  of  serv- 
ing my  country  that  I  could  choose." 

"Last  Sunday  it  was  uncomfortably  warm.  We 
wore  thin  summer  clothes,  and  were  languid  from 
the  heat.  The  thermometer  was  eighty-two  in 
the  shade.  On  Monday  the  weather  changed  from 
heat  to  cold  in  five  minutes,  in  consequence  of  the 
sudden  and  violent  winds,  which  are  called 
'  northers.' " 

"  No  one  prepares  for  the  cold  in  this  country, 
but  there  was  a  general  scattering  when  our  first 
norther  attacked  us.  Tom  rushed  for  wood,  and 


PYROTECHNICS  FOR  A  PARENT.  239 

of  course  none  was  cut.  He  fished  Tex  out  from 
the  kitchen,  borrowed  an  axe  from  one  of  the 
headquarters  men,  and  soon  appeared  with  an  arm- 
ful. As  he  took  the  sticks  from  Tex  to  build  the  fire, 
out  dropped  a  scorpion  to  add  to  the  excitement. 
It  was  torpid,  but  nevertheless  it  was  a  scorpion, 
and  I  took  up  my  usual  safe  position,  in  the  middle 
of  the  bed,  till  there  was  an  auto  da  fe.  The 
loose  windows  rattled,  and  the  wind  howled 
around  the  corner  of  our  room.  I  put  a  sack  and 
shawl  over  my  summer  dress,  and  we  shivered 
over  TonVs  fire.  I  rather  wondered  at  Armstrong's 
huddling,  he  is  usually  so  warm,  but  each  act  of 
these  boys  needs  investigating.  By  and  by  he 
went  off  to  write,  while  father  Custer  took  out  his 
pipe,  to  calm  the  troubled  scene  into  which  the 
rush  of  Nova  Zembla  had  thrown  us.  He  sat  'way 
under  the  mantel  to  let  the  tobacco-smoke  go  up 
the  chimney.  Pretty  soon  Autie  returned  and 
threw  some  waste  paper  on  the  fire,  and  the  next 
thing  we  all  started  violently  back  from  a  wild 
pyrotechnic  display.  With  the  papers  went  in  a 
handful  of  blank  cartridges,  and  these  innocent 
looking  scamps  faced  their  father  and  calmly 
asked  him  why  he  had  jumped  half-way  across 
the  room.  They  often  repeat  this  Fourth-of-July 
exhibition  with  fire-crackers,  either  tied  to  his  chair, 
or  tossed  carelessly  on  the  burning  logs,  when  his 


240  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

attention  is  attracted  elsewhere.  But  don't  pity 
him,  mother.  No  matter  what  trick  they  play,  he 
is  never  phased.  He  matches  them  too,  and  I 
help  him,  though  I  am  obliged  to  confess  I  often 
join  in  the  laugh,  it  is  all  so  funny.  This  was  not 
the  last  of  the  hullaballoo.  The  wood  gave  out, 
and  Autie  descended  for  more.  Tex  took  this 
occasion,  when  everyone  was  hunting  a  fire  and 
shelter  from  the  cold,  to  right  what  he  considered 
a  grievous  wrong.  Autie  found  him  belaboring 
another  colored  boy,  whom  he  had  "  downed." 
Autie  investigated,  for  if  Tex  was  right  he  was 
bound  to  let  the  fight  proceed.  You  know  in  his 
West  Point  days  he  was  arrested  for  allowing  a 
fisticuff  to  go  on,  and  because  he  said,  '  Stand  back, 
boys,  and  let's  have  a  fair  fight.'  But  finding  our 
boy  in  the  wrong,  he  arraigned  him,  and  began, 
4  Did  you  strike  Jake  with  malice  aforethought  ?  ' 
'  No,  sah !  no,  sah  !  I  dun  struck  him  with  the 
back  of  the  hatchet.'  At  this  Autie  found  himself 
no  longer  a  'most  righteous  judge.'  This  Daniel 
beat  a  quick  retreat,  red  with  suppressed  laughter, 
and  made  Tom  go  down  to  do  the  punishing. 
Tom  shut  Tex  in  the  chicken-coop  ;  but  it  was  too 
hard  for  rae  to  see  from  my  window  his  shiny 
eyes  looking  out  from  between  the  slats,  so  they 
made  the  sentence  light,  and  he  was  set  free  in 
the  afternoon. 


A   TEXAS  NORTHER.  24! 

"Now,  mother,  I  have  established  the  only 
Yankee  wood-pile  in  Texas.  I  don't  mean  to  be 
caught  again,  and  shrivel  up  as  we  did  this  time. 
You  don't  know  how  these  storms  deceive  you.  One 
hour  we  are  so  suffocated  with  the  heavy,  oppres- 
sive air,we  sit  in  the  deep  window-sills  and  pant  for 
breath.  Along  comes  a  roaring  sound  through  the 
tree-tops,  and  there's  a  scatter,  I  can  tell  you.  We 
bang  down  the  windows,  and  shout  for  Texas  to 
hunt  the  wood-pile,  jump  into  warm  clothes,  and 
before  we  are  fairly  prepared,  the  hurricane  is 
upon  us.  We  really  don't  mind  it  a  bit,  as  it 
doesn't  last  long  (once  it  lasted  three  days), 
besides,  it  is  so  good  to  be  in  something  that  isn't 
going  to  blow  down,  as  we  momentarily  expected 
in  a  tent.  Our  Sundays  pass  so  slowly !  The 
traveling-wagon  holds  a  good  many,  and  we  don't 
mind  close  quarters,  so  we  all  squeeze  in,  and  the 
bachelor  officers  ride  with  us  to  church.  The  Epis- 
copal church  is  still  open,  but  as  they  have  no 
fires  we  would  be  glad  if  the  rector  warmed 
us  up  with  his  eloquence  a  little  more.  However, 
it's  church,  and  we  begin  to  feel  semi-civilized. 

"The  citizens  are  constantly  coming  to  pay 
their  respects  to  Armstrong.  You  see,  we  were 
welcomed  instead  of  dreaded,  as,  Yankees  or  no 
Yankees,  a  man's  life  is  just  as  good,  preserved  by 


242  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

a  Federal  soldier  as  by  a  Confederate,  and  every- 
body seems  to  be  in  a  terrified  state  in  this  law- 
less land.  Among  the  callers  is  one  man  that 
will  interest  you,  father.  I  believe  you  are  con- 
sidered authority  on  the  history  of  the  fight  that 
took  place  at  Monroe,  when  the  Kentucky  regi- 
ment fought  the  British  in  1812.  Well,  whom  do 
you  think  we  have  found  down  here,  but  the  old 
Colonel  Groome  who  distinguished  himself  that 
day  ?  He  is  a  white-headed  old  soldier,  and  when 
Autie  told  him  that  we  were  right  from  Monroe, 
he  was  so  affected  the  tears  came  to  his  eyes.  It 
was  he  that  set  the  barn  on  fire,  to  prevent  the 
British  using  it  as  a  fortification  for  sharp-shoot- 
ers. He  crawled  away  from  the  burning  building 
on  his  hands  and  knees,  while  their  bullets  cut  his 
clothes  and  wounded  him  several  times.  Years 
afterward  he  met  an  old  British  officer,  who  told 
him,  in  their  talk,  that  the  man  who  fired  the  barn 
was  killed  by  his  own  army,  but  Colonel  Groome, 
in  quite  a  dramatic  way,  said,  '  No  !  I  am  the 
man.'  He  says  that  he  would  like  to  see  you  so 
much.  Autie  is  greatly  interested  in  this  veteran, 
and  we  are  going  to  call  on  him,  and  get  two 
game  chickens  he  is  to  give  us. 

"  Now,  father,  don't  wrinkle  up  your  brows 
when  I  tell  you  that  we  race  horses.  Even  I  race 
with  Mrs.  L ,  and, much  as  you  may  disapprove, 


HARMLESS  HORSE-RACING.  243 

I  know  my  father  too  well,  not  to  be  sure  he  will 
be  glad  that  his  only  daughter  beat.  But  let  me 
explain  to  you  that  racing  among  ourselves  is  not 
your  idea  of  it.  There  is  no  money  at  stake,  no 
rough  crowd,  none  of  the  evils  of  which  you  may 
well  disapprove,  as  we  know  horse-racing  at  home. 
Armstrong  is  considered  the  best  judge  of  a  horse 
here.  The  Texans  supposed  no  one  in  the  world 
could  ride  as  well  as  themselves,  and  they  do 
ride  splendidly,  but  those  who  saw  Armstrong 
keep  his  place  in  the  saddle,  when  Don  Juan  ran 
away  with  him  at  the  grand  review  in  Washing- 
ton, concede  that  he  does  know  how  to  ride, 
however  mistaken  his  views  on  patriotism  may 
be.  We  have  now  three  running  horses  and  a 
fast  pony,  none  of  which  has  been  beaten. 
Autie's  bay  pony  beat  a  crack  runner  of  which 
the  town  boasts,  by  three  full  lengths.  The  races 
are  near  our  quarters,  so  we  women  can  be  in  it 
all.  Indeed,  there  is  nothing  they  do  not  share 
with  us. 

"  Our  stable-boy  is  a  tiny  mulatto,  a  handsome 
little  fellow,  weighing  about  eighty  pounds. 
Armstrong  thinks  he  is  the  finest  rider  he  has  ever 
seen.*  I  have  just  made  him  a  tight-fitting  red 
jacket  and  a  red-white-and-blue  skull-cap,  to  ride 
in  at  races.  We  are  running  out  to  the  stables 
half  our  time.  Armstrong  has  the  horses  exercised 


244  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

on  a  quarter-of-a-mile  track,  holds  the  watch  and 
times  them,  as  we  sit  round  and  enjoy  their  speed." 

"  When  I  am  so  intent  on  my  amateur  dress- 
making, and  perplexed  and  tired,  dear  mother, 
you  wouldn't  wonder  when  I  tell  you  that  one 
dress,  of  which  I  am  in  actual  need,  I  cut  so  that 
the  figure  ran  one  way  on  the  skirt  and  another 
on  the  waist,  and  caused  Armstrong  to  make 
some  ridiculous  remarks  that  I  tried  not  to  notice, 
but  he  was  so  funny  and  the  dress  itself  was  so 
very  queer  when  I  put  it  on,  I  had  to  give  in. 
Well,  when  I  am  so  bothered,  he  comes  in  and 
throws  my  things  all  over  the  room,  kicks  over 
the  lapboard,  and  picks  me  up  for  a  tramp  to  the 
stable.  Then  he  rubs  down  the  horses'  legs,  and 
asks  me  to  notice  this  or  that  fine  point,  which  is 
all  Greek  to  me.  The  truth  is,  that  I  would  rather 
see  a  fine  mane  and  tail,  than  all  the  sinew,  length 
of  limb,  etc.  Then  we  sit  down  on  kegs  and 
boxes,  and  contemplate  our  wealth.  Custis  Lee 
greets  me  with  a  whinny.  Dear  mother,  you 
would  be  simply  horrified  by  our  back  yard. 
Autie  and  I  march  to  the  stables  through  a  dark 
cloud  of  spectators.  The  negroes  are  upon  us 
like  the  locusts  of  Egypt.  It  is  rumored  that  our 
Uncle  Charley  keeps  a  flourishing  colored  board- 
ing-house in  the  town,  from  what  is  decidedly 


SCHOOLMATES  MEET  AS  SOLDIERS.  245 

more  than  the  crumbs  that  fall  from  his  master's 
table.  After  all,  though,  considering  our  house 
is  filled  with  company,  and  we  constantly  give 
evening  parties,  I  don't  think  our  mess-bills  are 
very  large.  Autie  teases  father  Custer,  by  telling 
him  he  is  going  to  brigade  the  colored  troops,  and 
make  him  chaplain.  You  are  well  aware  how 
father  Custer  feels  over  the  '  nigger '  question,  and 
how  he  would  regard  a  chaplaincy.  I  must  not 
forget  to  tell  you  that  the  wheel  of  time  has  rolled 
around,  and  among  the  regiments  in  Armstrong's 
command  is  the  Fourth  Michigan  Infantry.  Don't 
you  remember  that  when  he  was  a  second  lieuten- 
ant, he  crossed  the  Chickahominy  with  that  regi- 
ment, and  how,  having  started  before  dawn,  his 
comrades  among  whom  he  had  just  come,  did  not 
know  him,  till,  while  they  were  lying  low,  he 
would  pop  up  his  head  and  call  out  their  first 
names,  or  their  nick-names  at  school  in  Monroe, 
and  when  it  was  daylight,  and  they  recognized 
him,  how  glad  they  were  to  see  him." 

"  We  had  a  lovely  Christmas.  I  fared  beauti- 
fully, as  some  of  our  staff  had  been  to  San  Antonio, 
where  the  stores  have  a  good  many  beautiful 
things  from  Mexico.  Here,  we  had  little  oppor- 
tunity to  buy  anything,  but  I  managed  to  get  up 
some  trifle  for  each  of  our  circle.  We  had  a  large 


246  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

Christmas-tree,  and  Autie  was  Santa  Glaus,  and 
handed  down  the  presents,  making  side-splitting 
remarks  as  each  person  walked  up  to  receive  his 
gift.  The  tree  was  well  lighted.  I  don't  know  how 
so  many  tapers  were  gotten  together.  Of  course 
it  would  not  be  us  if,  with  all  the  substantial  gifts, 
some  jokes  were  not  slipped  in.  You  know  well 
father  Custer's  antipathy  to  the  negro,  and  every- 
body gathered  round  to  see  him  open  a  box  con- 
taining a  nigger  doll  baby,  while  two  of  his  other 
parcels  held  a  bunch  of  fire-crackers  and  a  bunch 
of  cards.  Lately  his  sons  have  spent  a  good  deal 
of  time  and  argument,  trying  to  induce  him  to 
play.  They,  at  last,  taught  him  some  simple  game, 
easy  enough  for  even  me  to  master.  The  rogues 
let  him  beat  at  first,  but  finally  he  discovered  his 
luck  was  so  persistently  bad  there  must  be  a  screw 
loose,  and  those  boys  up  to  some  rascality.  They 
had  put  him,  with  no  apparent  intention,  with  his 
back  to  the  mirror,  and,  of  course,  saw  his  hand, 
which,  like  an  amateur,  he  awkwardly  held  just 
right  to  enable  them  to  see  all  his  cards.  This 
ended  his  lessons,  and  we  will  return  him  to  Mon- 
roe the  same  good  old  Methodist  that  he  left  it. 
Everybody  is  fond  of  him,  and  his  real  presents 
were  a  hat,  handkerchief,  necktie,  pipe  and  tobacco. 
"  One  of  our  lieutenants,  having  just  received 
his  brevet  as  major,  had  a  huge  pair  of  yellow 


CHRISTMAS  MISTLETOE. 


247 


leaves  cut  out  of  flannel,  as  his  insignia  for  the  new 
rank. 

"  One  of  the  staff,  now  a  teetotaler,  was  remind- 
ed of  his  past,  which  I  hoped  everyone  would  ig- 
nore, by  the  present  of  a  wooden  faucet.  No  one 
escapes  in  such  a  crowd.  * 

"  Tom,  who  is  always  drumming  on  the  piano, 
had  a  Jew's-harp  given  him,  with  an  explanatory 
line  from  Autie  attached,  "  to  give  the  piano  a 
rest."  Only  our  own  military  family  were  here, 
and  Armstrong  gave  us  a  nice  supper,  all  of  his 
own  getting  up.  We  played  games,  sang  songs, 
mostly  for  the  chorus,  danced,  and  finally  the 
merriest  imitated  the  darkies  by  jigs  and  patting 
juba,  and  walk-arounds.  The  rooms  were  pretti- 
ly trimmed  with  evergreens,  and  over  one  door  a 
great  branch  of  mistletoe,  about  which  the  officers 

sang: 

Fair  mistletoe  ! 

Love's  opportunity  ! 
What  trees  that  grow 

Give  such  sweet  impunity  ? 

"  But  it  is  too  bad  that,  pretty  as  two  or  three  of 
our  women  are,  they  belong  to  some  one  else.  So 
kissing  begins  and  ends  with  every  man  saluting 
his  own  wife. 

"  I  wish  you  could  see  the  waxen  white  berries 
and  the  green  leaves  of  the  parasite  on  the  naked 
branches  of  the  trees  here,  mother ;  and,  oh !  to 


248  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

have  you  get  one  sniff  of  the  December  roses, 
which  rival  the  summer  ones  in  richness  of  color 
and  perfume,  would  make  my  pleasure  greater,  I 
assure  you.  It  is  nearly  spring  here,  and  the  grass 
on  our  lawn  is  getting  green,  and  the  farmers  be- 
gan to  plough  in  January. 

"  Nettie  is  such  a  nurse  here  !  Her  name  is  up 
for  it,  and  she  has  even  to  go  out  to  the  servants' 
quarters  if  the  little  nigs  burn  their  heels  or  toes. 
She  is  a  great  pleasure  to  us  all,  and  enjoys  every 
moment." 

It  seems  that  the  general  racing  of  which  I 
wrote  to  my  father,  was  too  tempting  for  me  to  re- 
sist entirely,  and  our  household  was  beguiled  one 
day  into  a  promise  to  bring  my  husband's  war- 
horse,  Jack  Rucker,  down  to  the  citizens'  track. 
Every  one  was  confident  of  success,  and  no  one 
took  into  consideration  that  the  experiment  of 
pitting  gentlemen  against  turf  roughs  has  never 
been  successful.  Our  officers  entered  into  all  the 
preparations  with  high  hopes,  thinking  that  with 
one  good  whipping  the  civilians  would  cease  to 
send  bantering  messages  or  drag  presuming  coat- 
tails  before  their  eyes.  They  were  accustomed  to 
putting  their  steeds  to  their  best  speed  when  a 
party  of  equestrians  from  our  headquarters  were 
riding  in  their  vicinity.  Too  fond  of  good  horse- 
flesh not  to  admire  the  pace  at  which  their 


OUR  HORSE  "JACK."  249 

thoroughbreds  sped  over  the  smooth,  firm  roads 
about  Austin,  there  was  still  a  murmured  word 
passed  around  that  the  owners  of  these  fleet  ani- 
mals would  hang  their  proud  heads  when  "  Jack  " 
came  into  the  field.  We  women  were  pressed 
into  going.  All  of  us  liked  the  trial  of  speed  on 
our  own  territory,  but  the  hatred  of  a  horse-track 
that  was  not  conducted  by  gentlemen  was  imbed- 
ded deep  in  our  minds.  The  officers  did  not  ask 
us  to  go  for  good  luck,  as  army  women  are  so 
often  told  they  bring  it,  but  they  simply  said, 
'  You  could  not  miss  seeing  our  Jack  beat !'  Off 
we  went,  a  gay,  boisterous  party,  till  we  reached 
the  track  ;  there  we  put  on  our  quietest  civilian 
manners  and  took  our  place  to  watch  the  coming 
triumph.  The  track  was  good,  and  the  Texas  men 
and  women,  more  enthusiastic  over  a  horse  than 
over  anything  else  in  the  world,  cheered  their 
blanketed  favorite  as  he  was  led  up  and  down 
before  the  judge's  stand. 

When  the  judge  gave  the  final  "  Go !"  our  party 
were  so  excited,  and  our  hearts  so  swelling  with 
assured  success,  I  would  have  climbed  up  on  the 
saddle  to  see  better,  if  it  had  not  been  that  we 
were  surrounded  with  strangers.  Off  went  the 
beautiful  Texas  horse,  like  an  arrow  from  a  bow  ; 
but  our  Jack,  in  spite  of  the  rider  sticking  the  spur 
and  cruelly  cutting  his  silken  neck  with  the  whip, 


250  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

only  lumbered  around  the  first  curve,  and  in  this 
manner  laboriously  made  his  way  the  rest  of  the 
distance.  Of  course  it  was  plain  that  we  were 
frightfully  beaten,  and  with  loud  and  triumphant 
huzzas,  the  Texans  welcomed  their  winning  horse, 
long  before  poor  Jack  dragged  himself  up  to  the 
stand.  Our  officers  hurried  out  to  look  him  over, 
and  found  the  poor  brute  had  been  drugged  by 
the  contesting  side.  There  was  no  serious  injury, 
except  to  our  pride.  We  were  too  disappointed, 
humiliated  and  infuriated  to  stand  upon  the  order 
of  our  going.  We  all  turned  our  backs  upon  the 
crowd  and  fled.  The  clatter  of  our  horses'  hoofs 
upon  the  hard  road  was  the  only  sound,  as  none 
of  us  spoke. 

My  husband  met  that,  as  everything  else,  as 
nothing  worthy  of  serious  regret,  and  after  the 
tempest  of  fury  over  our  being  so  imposed  upon, 
I  rather  rejoiced,  because  the  speed  of  our  horses, 
after  that  first  and  last  essay,  was  confined  to  our 
own  precincts.  Nobody's  pocket  suffered,  and 
the  wounded  spirits  of  those  who  race  horses  are 
more  easily  soothed,  if  a  wounded  purse  has  not 
to  be  borne  in  addition. 

There  was  one  member  of  our  family,  to  whom 
I  have  only  referred,  who  was  our  daily  joy.  It 
was  the  pointer  Ginnie,  whom  the  Virginia  family 
in  Hempstead  had  given  us.  My  husband  made 


DOGS  AS  COMPANIONS.  25! 

her  a  bed  in  the  hall  near  our  room,  and  she  did 
every  cunning,  intelligent  act  of  which  a  dog  is 
capable.  She  used  to  go  hunting,  walking  and 
riding  with  us,  and  was  en  rapport  with  her  master 
at  all  times.  I  often  think,  Who  among  our 
friends  pleases  us  on  all  occasions?  How  few 
there  are  who  do  not  rub  us  up  the  wTong  way,  or 
whom  we  ourselves  are  not  conscious  sometimes 
of  boring,  and  of  taxing  their  patience  !  And  do 
we  not  find  that  we  sometimes  approach  those  of 
whom  we  are  fond,  and  discover  intuitively  that 
they  are  not  in  sympathy  with  our  mood,  and  we 
must  bide  their  time  for  responding  to  our  over- 
tures ?  With  that  dear  Ginnie  there  was  no  ques- 
tion. She  received  us  exactly  in  the  spirit  with 
which  we  approached  her,  responded,  with 
measure  pressed  down  and  running  over,  to  our 
affectionate  demonstrations,  and  the  blessed  old 
girl  never  sulked  if  we  dropped  her  to  attend  to 
something  else.  George  Eliot  says,  "  Animals  are 
such  agreeable  friends!  they  ask  no  questions, 
they  pass  no  criticisms." 

A  dog  is  so  human  to  me,  and  dogs  have  been 
my  husband's  chosen  friends  so  many  years,  I  can- 
not look  upon  the  commonest  cur  with  indifference. 
Sometimes,  as  I  stand  now  at  my  window,  long- 
ing for  the  old  pack  that  whined  with  delight, 
quarreled  with  jealousy  for  the  best  place  near  us, 


352  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

capered  with  excitement  as  we  started  off  on  a 
ride  or  walk,  my  eyes  involuntarily  follow  each 
dog  that  passes  on  the  street.  I  look  at  the 
master  to  see  if  he  realizes  that  all  that  is  faithful 
and  loving  in  this  world  is  at  his  heels.  If  he 
stops  to  talk  to  a  friend,  and  the  dog  leaps  about 
him,  licks  his  hand,  rubs  against  him,  and  tries,  in 
every  way  that  his  devoted  heart  teaches  him,  to 
attract  the  attention  of  the  one  who  is  all  the 
world  to  him,  all  my  sympathies  are  with  the  dog. 
I  watch  with  jealous  solicitude  to  see  if  the  affec- 
tionate brute  gets  recognition.  And  if  by  instinct 
the  master's  hand  goes  out  to  the  dog's  head,  I  am 
quite  as  glad  and  grateful  as  the  recipient.  If  the 
man  is  absorbed  and  lets  the  animal  sit  patiently 
and  adoringly  watching  his  very  expression,  it 
seems  to  me  I  cannot  refrain  from  calling  his 
attention  to  the  neglect. 

My  husband  was  as  courteous  in  responding  to 
his  dogs'  demonstrations,  and  as  affectionate,  as  he 
would  be  to  a  person.  If  he  sent  them  away,  he 
explained,  in  dog  talk,  the  reason,  which  might 
seem  absurd,  if  our  canine  family  had  not  been  our 
companions  so  constantly  that  they  seemed  to 
understand  and  accept  his  excuses  as  something 
unavoidable  on  his  part.  The  men  of  our  family 
so  appreciated  kindness  to  dogs  that  I  have  found 
myself  this  winter,  involuntarily  almost,  calling  to 


ALTERING  THE  DOG  CENSUS. 


253 


them  to  see  an  evidence  of  affection.  One  of 
my  neighbors  is  a  beer  saloon,  and  though  I  am 
too  busy  to  look  out  of  the  window  much,  I  have 
noticed  occasionally  an  old  express  horse  waiting 
for  his  master  to  take  "  something  warming."  The 
blanket  was  humped  up  on  his  back  mysteriously. 
It  turned  out  to  be  a  dear  little  cur,  which  was  thus 
kept  warm  by  a  fond  master.  It  recalls  our  men 
and  the  ways  they  devised  for  keeping  their  dogs 
warm,  the  times  innumerable  when  they  shared 
their  own  blankets  with  them,  when  caught  out  in 
a  cold  snap,  or  divided  short  rations  with  the  dogs 
they  loved. 

Returning  to  Ginnie,  I  remember  a  day  when 
there  was  a  strange  disappearance  ;  she  did  not 
thump  her  tail  on  the  door  for  entrance,  fetching 
our  stockings  in  her  mouth,  as  a  gentle  hint  that  it 
was  time  to  get  up  and  have  a  fire,  if  the  morning 
was  chilly.  It  did  not  take  the  General  long  to 
scramble  into  his  clothes  and  go  to  investigate,  for 
he  dearly  loved  her,  and  missed  the  morning  call. 
Soon  afterward  he  came  bounding  up  the  stairs, 
two  steps  at  a  time,  to  announce  that  no  harm  had 
come  to  our  favorite,  but  that  seven  other  little 
Ginnies  were  now  taking  the  breakfast  provided 
by  their  mother,  under  the  negro  quarters  at  the 
rear  of  the  house.  There  was  great  rejoicing,  and 
preparations  to  celebrate  this  important  event  in 


254 


TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 


our  family.  Eliza  put  our  room  in  order,  and  de- 
scended to  the  kitchen  to  tell  what  antics  the 
General  was  performing  over  the  animal.  When 
she  was  safely  down-stairs,  where  she  could  not  in- 
timidate us,  my  husband  and  I  departed  to  fetch 
the  new  family  up  near  us.  The  General  would 
not  trust  any  one  with  the  responsibility  of  the 
removal.  He  crawled  under  the  building,  which 
was  set  up  on  low  piles,  and  handed  out, the  baby 
canines,  one  by  one,  to  me.  Ginnie  ran  beside  us, 
frantic  with  anxiety,  but  her  eloquent  eyes  full  of 
love  and  trust  in  our  intentions. 

Her  bed  in  the  hall  was  hardly  good  enough  for 
such  an  epoch  in  her  life,  so  the  whole  litter,  with 
the  proud  mother  in  their  midst,  was  safely  de- 
posited in  the  middle  of  our  bed,  where  we  paid 
court  to  this  royalty.  My  husband  went  over  each 
little  shapeless  body,  and  called  my  special  atten- 
tion to  fine  points,  that,  for  the  life  of  me,  dog-lover 
as  I  was,  I  could  not  discover  in  the  pulpy,  silken- 
sk  inned  little  rolls.  As  he  took  them  up,  one  by  one 
Ginnie  understood  every  word  of  praise  he  uttered. 
After  all  of  these  little  blind  atoms  had  been  re- 
turned to  their  maternal,  and  the  General  had  con- 
gratulated the  mother  on  a  restaurant  where,  he 
said,  the  advertisement  of  "warm  meals  at  all 
hours"  was  for  once  true,  he  immediately  set 
about  tormenting  Eliza.  Her  outraged  spirit  had 


VIALS  OF  WRATH. 


255 


suffered  often,  to  see  the  kingly  Byron  reposing 
his  head  on  the  pillow,  but  the  General  said,  "  We 
must  get  her  up-stairs,  for  there  will  be  war  in 
the  camp  now." 

Eliza  came  peacefully  up  the  stairs  into  our 
room,  but  her  eyes  blazed  when  she  saw  Ginnie. 
She  asked  her  usual  question,  "  Did  I  come  way 
off  down  in  this  here  no  'count  country  to  wash 
white  counterpanes  for  dogs  ? "  At  each  speech 
the  General  said  something  to  Ginnie  in  reply,  to 
harrow  her  up  more  and  more,  and  at  last  she  had 
to  give  in  and  laugh  at  some  of  his  drolleries.  She 
recalls  to  me  now  her  recollection.  "  Miss  Libbie, 
do  you  mind  how  the  Ginnel  landed  Ginnie  and 
her  whole  brood  of  pups  in  the  middle  of  the  bed, 
and  then  had  the  'dacity  to  send  for  me  ?  But, 
oh !  it  was  perfectly  heart-rendin',  the  way  he 
would  go  on  about  his  dogs  when  they  was  sick." 

And  we  both  remembered,  when  one  of  these  lit- 
tle puppies  of  our  beloved  Ginnie  was  ill,  how  he 
walked  the  floor  half  the  night,  holding,  rubbing, 
trying  to  soothe  the  suffering  little  beast.  And  in 
spite  of  his  medical  treatment — for  he  kept  the  dog- 
book  on  his  desk,  and  ransacked  it  for  remedies — 
and  notwithstanding  the  anointing  and  the  cod- 
dling, two  died. 

After  Eliza  had  come  down  from  her  ram- 
pagious  state,  she  was  invited  to  take  notice  of  what 


256  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

a  splendid  family  Ginnie  had.  Then  all  the  staff 
and  the  ladies  came  up  to  call.  It  was  a  great  occa- 
sion for  Ginnie,  but  she  bore  her  honors  meekly, 
and  offered  her  paw,  as  was  her  old  custom,  to 
each  new-comer,  as  if  prepared  for  congratulations. 
When  they  were  old  enough  to  run  about  and 
bark,  Ginnie  took  up  her  former  habit  of  following 
at  the  General's  heels;  and  as  he  crossed  the  yard 
to  the  stables  there  was  so  absurd  a  procession 
that  I  could  not  help  laughing  at  the  commanding 
officer,  and  question  if  he  himself  thought  it  added 
to  the  dignity  of  his  appearance,  to  see  the  court- 
like  trail  of  mother  and  five  puppies  in  his  wake. 
The  independence  of  the  chief  was  too  inborn  to 
be  laughed  to  scorn  about  appearances,  and  so  he 
continued  to  go  about,  as  long  as  these  wee  tod- 
dlers followed  their  mother  in  quest  of  supplies. 
I  believe  there  were  twenty-three  dogs  at  this  time 
about  our  house,  most  of  them  ours.  Even  our 
father  Custer  accepted  a  bulky  old  cur  as  a  gift. 
There  was  no  manner  of  doubt  about  the  qualities 
that  had  influenced  our  persecuted  parent  in  select- 
ing this  one  from  the  numerous  dogs  offered  him 
by  his  farmer  friends.  His  choice  was  made 
neither  on  account  of  breeding  nor  speed.  The 
cur  was  selected  solely  as  a  watch-dog.  He  was 
all  growl  and  bark,  and  as  devotion  is  not 
confined,  fortunately,  to  the  canines  of  exalted 


A  BODY-GUARD. 


257 


paternity,  the  lumbering  old  fellow  was  faithful. 
Nothing  describes  him  better  than  some  lines  from 
"  The  Outside  Dog  in  the  Fight  ;"  for  though  he 
could  threaten  with  savage  growls,  and,  I  fancy, 
when  aggravated,  could  have  set  savage  teeth  in 
the  enemy  of  his  master,  he  trotted  beside  our 
father's  horse  very  peacefully,  unmindful  of  the 
quarrelsome  members  of  our  canine  family,  who 
bristled  up  to  him,  inviting  an  encounter  merely 
to  pass  the  time. 

"  You  may  sing  of  your  dog,  your  bottom  dog, 

Or  of  any  dog  that  you  please  ; 
I  go  for  the  dog,  the  wise  old  dog, 

That  knowingly  takes  his  ease, 
And  wagging  his  tail  outside  the  ring, 

Keeping  always  his  bone  in  sight, 
Cares  not  a  pin,  in  his  wise  old  head, 

For  either  dog  in  the  fight. 

'  Not  his  is  the  bone  they  are  fighting  for, 

And  why  should  my  dog  sail  in, 
With  nothing  to  gain  but  a  certain  chance 

To  lose  his  own  precious  skin  ? 
There  may  be  a  few,  perhaps,  who  fail 

To  see  it  in  quite  this  light  ; 
But  when  the  fur  flies  I  had  rather  be 

The  outside  dog  in  the  fight." 

Affairs  had  come  to  such  a  pass  that  our  father 
took  his  yellow  cur  into  his  bedroom  at  night.  It 
was  necessary  to  take  prompt,  precautionary 
measures  to  keep  his  sons  from  picking  the  lock  of 


258 


TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 


the  door  and  descending  on  him  in  their  maraud- 
ing expeditions.  The  dog  saw  comparatively 
little  of  outside  life,  for,  as  time  rounded,  it  be- 
came necessary  for  the  old  gentleman  to  shut  up 
his  body-guard  daytimes  also,  as  he  found  in  his 
absence  these  same  sons  and  their  confederates 
had  a  fashion  of  dropping  a  little  "nig"  over  the 
transom,  with  directions  to  fetch  back  to  them 
anything  he  could  lay  his  hands  on.  I  have  seen 
them  at  the  door  while  our  father  was  away,  try- 
ing to  soothe  and  cajole  the  old  guardian  of  his 
master's  effects  into  terms  of  peace.  After  all 
overtures  were  declined,  and  the  little  bedroom 
was  simply  filled  up  with  bark  and  growl,  the  in- 
vaders contented  themselves  with  tossing  all  sorts 
of  missiles  over  the  transom,  which  did  not 
sweeten  the  enraged  dog's  temper.  Nor  did  it 
render  our  father's  bed  as  downy  as  it  might  have 
been. 

I  find  myself  recalling  with  a  smile  the  perfectly 
satisfied  manner  in  which  this  ungainly  old  dog 
was  taken  out  by  his  venerable  owner  on  our  rides 
over  the  country.  Father  Custer  had  chosen  him, 
not  for  his  beauty,  but  as  his  companion,  and  find- 
ing him  so  successful  in  this  one  capacity,  he  was 
just  as  serene  over  his  possession  as  ever  his  sons 
were  with  their  high-bred  hunters.  The  dog 
looked  as  if  he  were  a  make-up  from  all  the  rough 


BOWSER  AND  HIS  MASTER. 


259 


clay  that  was  discarded  after  modeling  the  sleek, 
high-stepping,  springy,  fleet-footed  dogs  of  our 
pack.  His  legs  were  massive,  while  his  cumber- 
some tail  curled  over  his  plebeian  back  in  a 
tight  coil,  until  he  was  tired — then,  and  only 
then,  did  it  uncurl.  The  droop  of  his  head  was 
rendered  even  more  "  loppy  "  by  the  tongue,  which 
dropped  outside  the  sagging  jaw.  But  for  all  that, 
he  lumbered  along,  a  blotch  of  ungainly  yellow, 
beside  our  splendid  thoroughbreds;  he  was  never 
so  tired  that  he  could  not  understand  the  voice  of 
a  proud  old  man,  who  assured  his  retrograde  sons 
that  he  "  would  match  his  Bowser  'gainst  any  of 
their  new-fangled,  unreliable,  high-falutin  lot." 

It  was  a  strange  sight,  though,  this  one  plebeian 
among  patricians.  Our  horses  were  fine,  our 
father  got  good  speed  and  some  style  out  of  his 
nag,  our  dogs  leaped  over  the  country  like  deer, 
and  there  in  the  midst,  panting  and  faithfully 
struggling  to  keep  up,  was  the  rough,  uncouth  old 
fellow,  too  absorbed  in  endeavoring  not  to  be  left 
behind,  to  realize  that  he  was  not  all  that  a  dog 
could  be,  after  generations  of  training  and  breed- 
ing had  done  its  refining  work. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

DISTURBED    CONDITION    OF   TEXAS A    WOMAN'S    HORSE- 

EDUCATION  AT  THE  STABLES LEAVING  AUSTIN  FOR 

HEMPSTEAD SAM    HOUSTON    A    HERO     AMONG     OUR 

OFFICERS DETENTION      IN     GALVESTON A     TEXAS 

NORTHER     ON     THE     GULF     OF      MEXICO NARROW 

ESCAPE      FROM     SHIPWRECK RETURN     HOME     ON    A 

MISSISSIPPI  STEAMER. 

~^EXAS  was  in  a  state  of  ferment  from  one  end 
to  the  other.  There  was  then  no  network  of 
railroads  running  over  its  vast  territory  as  there  is 
now.  Lawless  acts  might  be  perpetrated,  and  the 
inciters  cross  the  Rio  Grande  into  Mexico,  before 
news  of  the  depredations  came  to  either  military 
or  civil  headquarters.  The  regiments  stationed  at 
various  points  in  the  State  had  no  easy  duty.  Jay- 
hawkers,  bandits  and  bush-whackers  had  every- 
thing their  own  way  for  a  time.  I  now  find, 
through  official  reports,  what  innumerable  per- 
plexities came  up  almost  daily,  and  how  difficult 
it  was  for  an  officer  in  command  of  a  division  to 
act  in  perfect  justice  to  citizen,  soldier  and  negro. 

It  was  the  most  natural  result  in  the  world  that 

260 


A  DE  VO  TED  PA  TRIO  T.  261 

the  restless  throng  let  loose  over  the  State  from 
the  Confederate  service,  should  do  what  idle 
hands  usually  find  to  do.  Consider  what  a  land 
of  tramps  we  were  at  the  North,  after  the  war;  and 
if  in  our  prosperous  States  and  Territories,  when  so 
many  business  industries  were  at  once  resumed, 
we  suffered  from  that  class  of  men  who  refused  to 
work  and  kept  outside  the  pale  of  the  law  by 
a  sneaking  existence,  what  would  naturally  be  the 
condition  of  affairs  in  a  country  like  Texas,  for 
many  years  the  hiding-place  of  outlaws  ? 

My  own  father  was  one  of  the  most  patriotic  men 
I  ever  knew.  He  was  too  old  to  enter  the  service 
— an  aged  man  even  in  my  sight,  for  he  had  not 
married  till  he  was  forty  ;  but  in  every  way  that 
he  could  serve  his  country  at  home,  he  was  fore- 
most among  the  elderly  patriots  of  the  North.  I 
remember  how  little  war  moved  me.  The  clash 
of  arms  and  glitter  of  the  soldiery  only  appealed 
to  me  as  it  did  to  thoughtless,  light-hearted  young 
girls  still  without  soldier  lovers  or  brothers,  who 
lived  too  far  from  the  scenes  of  battle  to  know  the 
tragic  side.  But  my  father  impressed  me  by  his 
sadness,  his  tears,  his  lamentations,  over  our  coun- 
try's misfortunes.  He  was  the  first  in  town  to  get 
the  news  from  the  front,  and  so  eager  to  hear  the 
result  of  some  awful  day,  when  lives  were  being 
lost  by  thousands  on  a  hotly  contested  field,  that 


262  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

he  walked  a  bleak,  lonely  mile  to  the  telegraph 
station,  waiting  till  midnight  for  the  last  de- 
spatches, and  weeping  over  defeats  as  he  wearily 
trod  the  long  way  homeward.  I  remember  his 
striding  up  and  down  the  floor,  his  grand  head 
bent  over  his  chest  in  grief,  and  saying,  so  solemnly 
as  to  arrest  the  attention  of  my  step-mother, 
usually  absorbed  in  domestic  affairs,  and  even  of 
me,  too  happy  then  with  the  very  exuberance  of 
living  to  think,  while  the  sadness  of  his  voice 
touched  even  our  thoughtlessness  :  "  Oh  !  the 
worst  of  this  calamity  will  not  be  confined  to  war: 
our  land,  even  after  peace  is  restored,  will  be  filled 
with  cut-throats  and  villains." 

The  prediction  came  true  immediately  in  Texas, 
and  the  troops  had  to  be  stationed  over  the  ex- 
tensive  territory.  Before  the  winter  was  over,  the 
civil  authorities  began  to  be  able  to  carry  out  the 
laws;  they  worked,  as  they  were  obliged  to  do,  in 
connection  with  the  military,  and  the  rioting,  op- 
pressions and  assassinations  were  becoming  less 
common.  It  was  considered  unnecessary  to  retain 
the  Division  of  cavalry  as  an  organization,  since  all 
anticipated  trouble  with  Mexico  was  over,  and  the 
troops  need  no  longer  be  massed  in  great  numbers. 
The  necessity  for  a  special  commander  for  the 
cavalry  in  the  State  was  over,  and  the  General 
was  therefore  mustered  out  of  service  as  a  major- 


"XOOTS  AND  SADDLES."  263 

general  of  volunteers,  and  ordered  North  to  await 
his  assignment  to  a  new  station. 

We  had  very  little  to  do  in  preparation,  as  our 
camp  outfit  was  about  all  our  earthly  possessions 
at  that  time.  It  was  a  trial  to  part  with  the 
elderly  dogs,  which  were  hardly  worth  the  experi- 
ment of  transporting  to  the  North,  especially  as 
we  had  no  reason  to  suppose  we  should  see 
another  deer,  except  in  zoological  gardens.  The 
hounds  fell  into  good  and  appreciative  hands,  be- 
ing given  either  to  the  planter  who  had  presented 
them,  or  to  the  officers  of  the  regular  regiment 
that  had  just  been  stationed  in  Texas  for  a  five- 
years'  detail.  The  cow  was  returned  to  the  gen- 
erous planter  who  lent  her  to  us.  She  was  now 
a  fat,  sleek  creature,  compared  with  her  appear- 
ance when  she  came  from  among  the  ranch  cattle. 
The  stables  were  emptied,  and  our  brief  enjoy- 
ment of  an  embryo  blue-grass  farm,  with  a  diminu- 
tive private  track  of  our  own,  was  at  an  end. 
Jack  Rucker,  Custis  Lee,  Phil  and  the  blooded 
mare  were  to  go ;  but  the  great  bargains  in  fast 
ponies  had  to  be  sacrificed. 

My  old  father  Custer  had  been  as  concerned 
about  my  horse-education  as  his  sons.  He  also 
tried,  as  well  as  his  boys,  to  attract  my  attention 
from  the  flowing  manes  and  tails,  by  which  alone 
I  judged  the  merits  of  a  horse,  to  the  shoulders, 


264  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

length  of  limb,  withers,  etc.  One  day  there  came 
an  incentive  for  perfecting  myself  in  horse  lore, 
for  my  husband  said  that  if  I  would  select  the  best 
pony  in  a  number  we  then  owned,  I  should  have 
him.  I  sat  on  a  keg  in  the  stable-yard,  contem- 
plating the  heels  of  the  horses,  and  wishing  fer- 
vently I  had  listened  to  my  former  lessons  in 
horse-flesh  more  attentively.  All  three  men 
laughed  at  my  perplexities,  and  even  the  soldiers 
who  took  care  of  the  stable  retired  to  a  safe  place 
to  smile  at  the  witticisms  of  their  commanding 
officer,  and  were  so  deplorably  susceptible  to  fun 
that  even  the  wife  of  their  chief  was  a  subject  for 
merriment.  I  was  in  imminent  danger  of  losing 
my  chance  at  owning  a  horse,  and  might  to  this 
day  have  remained  ignorant  of  the  peculiarly 
proud  sensation  one  experiences  over  that  posses- 
sion, if  my  father  Custer  had  not  slyly  and  surrep- 
titiously come  over  to  my  side.  How  he  cunningly 
imparted  the  information,  I  will  not  betray  ;  but, 
since  he  was  as  good  a  judge  of  a  horse  as  his 
sons,  and  had  taught  them  their  wisdom  in  that 
direction,  it  is  needless  to  say  that  my  final  judg- 
ment, after  repeated  returns  to  the  stable,  was 
triumphant.  Texas  made  the  old  saw  read, 
All  is  fair  in  love,  war  and  horse-trades,  so  I 
adapted  myself  to  the  customs  of  the  country,  and 
kept  the  secret  of  my  wise  judgment  until  the 


GENERAL    CUSTER    AT   THE   CLOSE   OF  THE  WAR  —AGED  25. 


265 


266  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

money  that  the  pony  brought — forty  dollars  in 
silver — was  safely  deposited  in  my  grasping  palm. 
I  will  not  repeat  the  scoffing  of  the  outwitted  pair, 
after  I  had  spent  the  money,  at  "  Libbie's  horse- 
dress,"  but  content  myself  with  my  father's  praise 
at  the  gown  he  had  secured  to  me,  when  I  enjoyed 
at  the  North  the  serenity  of  mind  that  comes  of 
silken  attire. 

The  planters  came  to  bid  us  good-by,  and  we 
parted  from  them  with  reluctance.  We  had  tome 
into  their  State  under  trying  circumstances,  and 
the  cordiality,  generosity  and  genuine  good  feel- 
ing that  I  know  they  felt,  made  our  going  a  regret. 
There  w  as  no  reason  why  they  should  come  from 
their  distant  plantations  to  say  good-by  and  wish 
us  godspeed,  except  from  personal  friendship, 
and  we  all  appreciated  the  wish  they  expressed, 
that  we  might  remain. 

The  journey  from  Austin  to  Hempstead  was 
made  much  more  quickly  than  our  march  over. 
We  had  relays  of  horses,  the  roads  were  good,  and 
there  was  no  detention.  I  only  remember  one 
episode  of  any  importance.  At  the  little  hotel  at 
which  we  stopped  in  Brennan,  we  found  loitering 
about  the  doors  and  stoop  and  inner  court  a 
lounging,  rough  lot  of  men,  evidently  the  lower 
order  of  Confederate  soldiers,  the  lawless  set  that 
infest  all  armies,  the  tramp  and  the  bummer. 


BARKING  FOES.  26j 

They  gathered  in  knots,  to  watch  and  talk  of  us. 
As  we  passed  them  on  our  way  to  the  dining- 
room,  they  muttered,  and  even  spoke  audibly, 
words  of  spiteful  insult.  At  every  such  word  I 
expected  the  fiery  blood  of  the  General  and  his 
staff  would  be  raised  to  fighting  heat.  But  they 
would  not  descend  to  altercation  with  fellows  to 
whom  even  the  presence  of  a  woman  was  no  re- 
straint. It  was  a  mystery,  it  still  is,  to  me,  that 
hot-blooded  men  can  control  themselves  if  they 
consider  the  foeman  unworthy  of  the  steel. 
My  husband  was  ever  a  marvel  to  me,  in  that  he 
could  in  this  respect  carry  out  his  own  oft-re- 
peated counsel.  I  began  very  early  with  that  old 
maxim,  "  consider  the  source,"  as  a  subterfuge  for 
the  lack  of  repartee,  in  choking  senseless,  childish 
wrath  ;  but  it  came  to  be  a  family  aphorism,  and 
I  was  taught  to  live  up  to  its  best  meaning.  The 
Confederates  were  only  "  barking,"  not  "biting,"  as 
the  General  said  would  be  the  case  ;  but  they  gave 
me  a  genuine  scare,  and  I  had  serious  objections 
to  traveling  in  Texas,  unaccompanied  by  a  Divi- 
sion of  cavalry.  I  think  the  cold  nights,  smoky 
camp-fires,  tarantulas,  etc.,  that  we  encountered  on 
our  march  over,  would  have  been  gladly  under- 
taken, rather  than  run  into  the  face  of  threatening 
men,  unaccompanied  by  a  single  trooper,  as  we 
then  traveled. 


268  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

I  wonder  what  the  present  tourist  would  think 
of  the  bit  of  railroad  over  which  we  journeyed 
from  Brennan  to  Galveston  !  I  scarcely  think  it 
had  been  touched,  in  the  way  of  repairs,  during  the 
war.  The  coaches  were  not  as  good  as  our  present 
emigrant-cars.  The  rails  were  worn  down  thin, 
and  so  loosely  secured  that  they  moved  as  we  rolled 
slowly  over  them.  We  were  to  be  constantly 
in  some  sort  of  peril,  it  seemed.  There  was 
a  deep  gulley  on  the  route,  over  which  was 
stretched  a  cobweb  trestle,  intended  only  as  a 
temporary  bridge.  There  was  no  sort  of  ques- 
tion about  its  insecurity ;  it  quivered  and  mena- 
cingly swayed  under  us.  The  conductor  told  us 
that  each  time  he  crossed  he  expected  to  go  down. 
I  think  he  imagined  there  could  be  no  better  time 
than  that,  when  it  would  secure  the  effectual  de- 
parture of  a  few  Yankee  officers,  not  only  from 
what  he  considered  his  invaded  State,  but  from  the 
face  of  the  earth.  At  any  rate,  he  so  graphically 
described  to  me  our  imminent  peril  that  he  put  me 
through  all  the  preliminary  stages  of  sudden  death. 
Of  course  our  officers,  inured  to  risks  of  all  sorts, 
took  it  all  as  a  matter  of  course,  and  the  General 
slyly  called  the  attention  of  our  circle  to  the  usual 
manner  in  which  the  "  old  lady "  met  danger, 
namely,  with  her  head  buried  in  the  folds  of  a 
cloak. 


A  SOLDIER  PIONEER.  269 

My  husband  knew  what  interest  and  admiration 
my  father  Bacon  had  for  "old  Sam  Houston,"  and 
he  himself  felt  the  delight  that  one  soldier  takes  in 
the  adventures  and  vicissitudes  of  another.  Con- 
sequently, we  had  listened  all  winter  to  the  Texans' 
laudation  of  their  hero,  and  ^rnany  a  story  that 
never  found  its  way  into  print  was  remembered 
for  my  father's  sake.  We  were  only  too  sorry  that 
Houston's  death,  two  years  previous,  had  prevent- 
ed our  personal  acquaintance.  He  was  not,  as  I 
had  supposed,  an  ignorant  soldier  of  fortune,  but 
had  early  scholarly  tastes,  and,  even  when  a  boy, 
could  repeat  nearly  all  of  Pope's  translation  of  the 
Iliad.  Though  a  Virginian  by  birth,  he  early 
went  with  his  widowed  mother  to  Tennessee,  and 
his  roving  spirit  led  him  among  the  Indians,  where 
he  lived  for  years  as  the  adopted  son  of  a  chief. 
He  served  as  an  enlisted  man  under  Andrew 
Jackson  in  the  war  of  1812,  and  afterward  became 
a  lieutenant  in  the  regular  army.  Then  he  assumed 
the  office  of  Indian  agent,  and  befriended  those 
with  whom  he  had  lived. 

From  that  he  went  into  law  in  Nashville,  and 
eventually  became  a  Congressman.  Some  mari- 
tal difficulties  drove  him  back  to  barbarism,  and 
he  rejoined  the  Cherokees,  who  had  been  removed 
to  Arkansas.  He  went  to  Washington  to  plead 
for  the  tribe,  and  returning,  left  his  wigwam 


270 


TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 


among"  the  Indians  after  a  time,  and  went  to  Texas. 
During  the  tumultuous  history  of  that  State,  when 
it  was  being  shifted  from  one  government  to 
another  with  such  vehemence,  no  citizen  could  tell 
whether  he  would  rise  in  the  morning  a  Mexican, 
or  a  member  of  an  independent  republic,  or  a 
citizen  of  the  United  States. 

With  all  that  period  Sam  Houston  was  identi- 
fied. He  was  evidently  the  man  for  the  hour,  and 
it  is  no  wonder  that  our  officers  dwelt  with  delight 
upon  his  marvelous  career.  In  the  first  revolution- 
ary movement  of  Texas  against  Mexican  rule,  he 
began  to  be  a  leader,  and  was  soon  commander- 
in-chief  of  the  Texan  army,  and  in  the  new  Re- 
public he  was  re-elected  to  that  office.  The 
dauntless  man  confronted  Santa  Anna  and  his 
force  of  5,000  men  with  a  handful  of  Texans — 
783  all  told,  undisciplined  volunteers,  ignorant  of 
war.  But  he  had  that  rare  personal  magnetism, 
which  is  equal  to  a  reserve  of  armed  battalions,  in 
giving  men  confidence  and  inciting  them  to 
splendid  deeds.  Out  of  1,600  regular  Mexican 
soldiers,  600  were  killed,  and  Santa  Anna,  dis- 
guised as  a  common  soldier,  was  captured.  Then 
Houston  showed  his  magnanimous  heart  ;  for  after 
rebuking  him  for  the  massacres  of  Goliad  and  the 
Alamo,  he  protected  him  from  the  vengeance  of 
the  enraged  Texans.  A  treaty  made  with  the 


TEXAS'  EARL  Y  HISTOR Y.  271 

captive  President  resulted  in  the  independence  of 
Texas.  When,  after  securing  this  to  the  State  of 
his  adoption,  Houston  was  made  President  of 
Texas,  he  again  showed  his  wonderful  clemency — 
which  I  cannot  help  believing  was  early  fostered 
and  enhanced  by  his  labors  in  behalf  of  the 
wronged  Cherokees — in  pardoning  Santa  Anna, 
and  appointing  his  political  rivals  to  offices  of  trust. 
If  Mr.  Lincoln  gave  every  energy  to  promoting  the 
perpetual  annexation  of  California,  by  tethering 
that  State  to  our  Republic  with  an  iron  lariat  cross- 
ing the  continent,  how  quickly  he  would  have 
seen,  had  he  then  been  in  office,  what  infinite  peril 
we  were  in  of  losing  that  rich  portion  of  our 
country. 

The  ambition  of  the  soldier  and  conqueror  was 
tempered  by  the  most  genuine  patriotism,  for  Sam 
Houston  used  his  whole  influence  to  annex  Texas 
to  the  Union,  and  the  people  in  gratitude  sent  him 
to  Washington  as  one  of  their  first  Senators.  As 
President  he  had  overcome  immense  difficulties, 
carried  on  Indian  wars,  cleared  off  an  enormous 
debt,  established  trade  with  Mexico,  made  suc- 
cessful Indian  treaties,  and  steadily  stood  at  the 
helm,  while  the  State  was  undergoing  all  sorts  of 
upheavals.  Finally  he  was  made  Governor  of  the 
State,  and  opposed  secession,  even  resigning  his 
office  rather  than  take  the  oath  required  by  the 


272  TE^7TING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

convention  that  assembled  to  separate  Texas  from 
the  Union.  Then,  poor  old  man,  he  died  before 
he  was  permitted  to  see  the  promised  land,  as  the 
war  was  still  in  progress.  His  name  is  perpet- 
uated in  the  town  called  for  him,  which,  as  the 
centre  of  large  railroad  interests,  and  as  a  leader 
in  the  march  of  improvement  in  that  rapidly  pro- 
gressing State,  will  be  a  lasting  monument  to  a 
great  man  who  did  so  much  to  bring  out  of  chaos 
a  vast  extent  of  our  productive  land,  sure  to  be- 
come one  of  the  richest  of  the  luxuriant  Southern 
States. 

At  Galveston  we  were  detained  by  the  non- 
arrival  of  the  steamer  in  which  we  were  to  go 
to  New  Orleans.  With  a  happy-go-lucky  party  like 
ours,  it  mattered  little  ;  no  important  interests 
were  at  stake,  no  business  appointments  awaiting 
us.  We  strolled  the  town  over,  and  commented, 
as  if  we  owned  it,  on  the  insecurity  of  its  founda- 
tions. Indeed,  for  years  after,  we  were  surprised, 
on  taking  up  the  morning  paper,  not  to  find  that 
Galveston  had  dropped  down  into  China.  The 
spongy  soil  is  so  porous  that  the  water  on  which 
rests  the  thin  layer  of  earth  appears  as  soon  as  a 
shallow  excavation  is  attempted.  Of  course  there 
are  no  wells,  and  the  ungainly  cistern  rises  above 
the  roof  at  the  rear  of  the  house.  The  hawkers  of 
water  through  the  town  amused  us  vastly,  especi- 


AN  INSECURE  TOWN. 

ally  as  we  were  not  obliged  to  pay  a  dollar  a  gal- 
lon, except  as  it  swelled  our  hotel-bill.  I  remember 
how  we  all  delighted  in  the  oleanders  that  grew 
as  shade  trees,  whose  white  and  red  blossoms  were 
charming.  To  the  General,  the  best  part  of  all  our 
detention  was  the  shell  drive  along  the  ocean.  The 
island  on  which  Galveston  has  its  insecure  footing 
is  twenty-eight  miles  long,  and  the  white,  firm 
beach,  glistening  with  the  pulverized  shells  ex- 
tending all  the  distance,  was  a  delight  to  us  as  we 
spent  hours  out  there  on  the  shore. 

It  must  surely  have  been  this  white  and  spark- 
ling thread  bordering  the  island,  that  drew  the 
ships  of  the  pirate  Lafitte  to  moor  in  the  harbor 
early  in  1800.  The  rose  pink  of  the  oleander,  the 
blue  of  the  sky,  the  luminous  beach,  with  the  long, 
ultramarine  waves  sweeping  in  over  the  shore, 
were  fascinating;  but  on  our  return  to  the  town, 
all  the  desire  to  remain  was  taken  away  by  the  tale 
of  the  citizens,  of  the  frequent  rising  of  the  ocean, 
the  submerging  of  certain  portions,  and  the  evi- 
dence they  gave,  that  the  earth  beneath  them  was 
honey-combed  by  the  action  of  the  water. 

We  paid  little  heed  at  first  to  the  boat  on  which 
we  embarked.  It  was  a  captured  blockade-runner, 
built  up  with  two  stories  of  cabins  and  staterooms 
for  passengers.  In  its  original  condition,  the  crew 
and  passengers,  as  well  as  the  freight,  were  down 


274 


TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 


in  the  hull.  The  steamer  was  crowded.  Our 
staterooms  were  tiny,  and  though  they  were  on 
the  upper  deck,  the  odor  of  bilge  water  and  the 
untidiness  of  the  boat  made  us  uncomfortable 
from  the  first.  The  day  was  sunny  and  clear  as 
we  departed,  but  we  had  hardly  left  the  harbor 
before  we  struck  a  norther.  Such  a  hurricane  as 
it  was  at  sea!  We  had  thought  ourselves  versed 
in  all  the  wind  could  do  on  land  ;  but  a  norther  in 
that  maelstrom  of  a  Gulf,  makes  a  land  storm  mild 
in  comparison.  The  Gulf  of  Mexico  is  almost 
always  a  tempest  in  a  tea-pot.  The  waves 
seem  to  lash  themselves  from  shore  to  shore,  and 
after  speeding  with  tornado  fleetness  toward  the 
borders  of  Mexico,  back  they  rush  to  the  Florida 
peninsula.  No  one  can  be  out  in  one  of  these 
tempests,  without  wondering  why  that  thin  jet  of 
land  which  composes  Florida  has  not  long  ago 
been  swept  out  of  existence.  How  many  of  our 
troops  have  suffered  from  the  fury  of  that  ungov- 
ernable Gulf,  in  the  transit  from  New  Orleans  to 
Matamoras  or  Galveston !  And  officers  have 
spoken,  over  and  over  again,  of  the  sufferings  of 
the  cavalry  horses,  condemned  to  the  hold  of  a 
Government  transport.  Ships  have  gone  down 
there  with  soldiers  and  officers  who  have  encoun- 
tered over  and  over  again  the  perils  of  battle. 
Transports  have  only  been  saved  from  being  en- 


A  TEMPEST  A  T  SEA.  2  75 

gulfed  in  those  rapacious  waves  by  unloading  the 
ship  of  hundreds  of  horses  ;  and  to  cavalrymen  the 
throwing  overboard  of  noble  animals  that  have 
been  untiring  in  years  of  campaigning,  and  by 
their  fleetness  and  pluck  have  saved  the  lives  of 
their  masters,  is  like  human  sacrifice.  Officers  and 
soldiers  alike  bewail  the  loss,  and  for  years  after 
speak  of  it  with  sorrow. 

Though  the  wind  seems  to  blow  in  a  circle  much 
of  the  time  on  the  Gulf,  we  found  it  dead  against 
us  as  we  proceeded.  The  captain  was  a  resolute 
man,  and  would  not  turn  back,  though  the  ship 
was  ill  prepared  to  encounter  such  a  gale.  We 
labored  slowly  through  the  constantly  increasing 
tempest,  and  the  last  glimpse  of  daylight  lighted 
a  sea  that  was  lashed  to  white  foam  about  us. 
At  home,  when  the  sun  sets  the  wind  abates ;  but 
one  must  look  for  an  entire  change  of  programme 
where  the  norther  reigns.  There  was  no  use  in 
remaining  up,  so  I  sought  to  forget  my  terror  in 
sleep,  and  crept  onto  one  of  the  little  shelves 
allotted  to  us.  The  creaking  and  groaning  of  the 
ship's  timbers  filled  me  with  alarm,  and  I  could 
not  help  calling  up  to  my  husband  to  ask  if  it  did 
not  seem  to  him  that  all  the  new  portion  of  the 
steamer  would  be  swept  off  into  the  sea.  Though 
I  was  comforted  by  assurances  of  its  impossibility, 
I  wished  with  all  my  heart  we  were  down  in  the 


2  76  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

hold.  Sleep,  my  almost  never-failing  friend,  came 
to  calm  me,  and  I  dreamed  of  the  strange  days  of 
the  blockade -runner,  when  doubtless  other 
women's  hearts  were  pounding  against  their  ribs 
with  more  alarming  terrors  than  those  that  agi- 
tated me.  For  we  well  knew  what  risks  Confed- 
erate women  took  to  join  their  husbands,  in  the 
stormy  days  on  sea  as  well  as  on  land. 

In  the  night  I  was  awakened  suddenly  by  a  fear- 
ful crash,  the  quick  veering  of  the  boat,  and  her 
violent  rolling  from  side  to  side.  At  the  same  in- 
stant, the  overturning  of  the  water-pitcher  deluged 
me  in  my  narrow  berth.  My  husband,  hearing  my 
cry  of  terror,  descended  from  his  berth  and  was 
beside  me  in  a  moment.  No  one  comprehended 
what  had  happened.  The  crashing  of  timber,  and 
the  creaking,  grinding  sounds  rose  above  the 
storm.  The  machinery  was  stopped,  and  we 
plunged  back  and  forth  in  the  trough  of  the  sea; 
each  time  seeming  to  go  down  deeper  and  deeper, 
until  there  appeared  to  be  no  doubt  that  the 
ship  would  be  eventually  engulfed.  There 
seemed  to  be  no  question,  as  the  breaking  of 
massive  beams  went  on,  that  we  were  going  to 
pieces.  The  ship  made  a  brave  fight  with  the  ele- 
ments, and  seemed  to  writhe  and  struggle  like 
something  human. 

In  the  midst  of  this,  the  shouts  of  the  sailors, 


WA  VES  ' «  MO UNTA1N  HIGH."  277 

the  trumpet  of  the  captain  giving  orders,  went  on, 
and  was  followed  by  the  creaking  of  chains,  the 
strain  of  the  cordage,  and  the  mad  thrashing  to 
and  fro  of  the  canvas,  which  we  supposed  had 
been  torn  from  the  spars.  Instant  disorder  took 
possession  of  the  cabin.  Everything  moveable 
was  in  motion.  The  trunks,  which  the  crowded 
condition  of  the  hold  had  compelled  us  to  put  in 
the  upper  end  of  the  cabin,  slid  down  the  carpet, 
banging  from  side  to  side.  The  furniture  broke 
from  its  fastenings,  and  slipped  to  and  fro ;  the 
smashing  of  lamps  in  our  cabin  was  followed  by 
the  crash  of  crockery  in  the  adjoining  dining- 
room  ;  while  above  all  these  sounds  rose  the  cries 
and  wails  of  the  women.  Some,  kneeling  in  their 
night-clothes,  prayed  loudly,  while  others  sank  in 
heaps  on  the  floor,  moaning  and  weeping  in  their 
helpless  condition.  The  calls  of  frantic  women 
asking  for  some  one  to  go  and  find  if  we  were  go- 
ing down,  were  unanswered  by  the  terrified  men. 
Meanwhile  my  husband,  having  implored  me  to 
remain  in  one  spot,  and  not  attempt  to  follow  him, 
hastily  threw  on  his  clothes  and  left  me,  begging 
that  I  would  remember,  while  he  was  absent,  that 
the  captain's  wife  and  child  were  with  us,  and  if  a 
man  ever  was  nerved  to  do  his  best,  that  brave 
husband  and  father  would  do  so  to-night. 

It  seemed  an  eternity  to  wait.    I  was  obliged  to 


2  78  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

cling  to  the  door  to  be  kept  from  being  dashed 
across  the  cabin.  While  I  wept  and  shivered,  and 
endured  double  agony,  knowing  into  what  peril 
my  husband  had  by  that  time  struggled,  I  felt 
warm,  soft  arms  about  me,  and  our  faithful  Eliza 
was  crooning  over  me,  begging  me  to  be  com- 
forted, that  she  was  there  holding  me.  Awakened 
at  the  end  of  the  cabin,  where  she  slept  on  a  sofa, 
she  thought  of  nothing  but  making  her  way 
through  the  demolished  furniture,  to  take  me  in 
her  protecting  arms.  Every  one  who  knows  the 
negro  character  is  aware  what  their  terrors  are  at 
sea.  How,  then,  can  I  recall  the  noble  forgetful- 
ness  of  self  of  that  faithful  soul,  without  tears  of 
gratitude  as  fresh  as  those  that  flowed  on  her 
tender  breast  when  she  held  me  ?  There  was  not 
a  vestige  of  the  heroic  about  me.  I  simply  cow- 
ered in  a  corner,  and  let  Eliza  shelter  me.  Besides, 
I  felt  that  I  had  a  kind  of  right  to  yield  to  selfish 
fright,  for  it  was  my  husband  of  all  the  men  on 
ship-board,  who  had  climbed  laboriously  to  the 
deck  to  do  what  he  could  for  our  safety,  and  calm 
the  agitated  women  below. 

Some  of  the  noble  Southern  women  proved  how 
deep  was  their  natural  goodness  of  heart ;  for  the 
very  ones  who  had  coldly  looked  me  over  and 
shrunk  from  a  hated  Yankee  when  we  met  the 
day  before,  crept  slowly  up  to  calm  my  terrors 


A  PERILOUS  RISK. 


279 


about  my  husband,  and  instruct  Eliza  what  to  do 
for  me.  At  last — and  oh,  how  interminable  the 
time  had  seemed  ! — the  General  opened  the  cabin 
door,  and  struggled  along  to  the  weeping  women. 
They  all  plied  him  with  questions,  and  he  was 
able  to  calm  them,  so  the  wailing  and  praying 
subsided  somewhat.  When  he  climbed  up  the 
companionway,  the  waves  were  dashing  over  the 
entire  deck,  and  he  was  compelled  to  creep  on  his 
hands  and  knees,  clinging  to  ropes  and  spars  as 
best  he  could,  till  he  reached  the  pilot-house. 
Only  his  superb  strength  kept  him  from  being 
swept  overboard.  Every  inch  of  his  progress  was 
a  deadly  peril.  He  found  the  calm  captain  willing 
to  explain,  and  paid  the  tribute  that  one  brave  man 
gives  another  in  moments  of  peril.  The  norther 
had  broken  in  the  wheel-house,  and  disabled  the 
machinery,  so  that,  but  for  the  sails,  which  we 
who  were  below  had  heard  raised,  we  must  have 
drifted  and  tossed  to  shipwreck.  If  he  could  make 
any  progress,  we  were  comparatively  safe,  but 
with  such  a  hurricane  all  was  uncertain.  This 
part  of  the  captain's  statement  the  General  sup- 
pressed. We  women  were  told,  after  the  fashion 
of  men  who  desire  to  comfort  and  calm  our  sex, 
only  a  portion  of  the  truth. 

The  motion  of  the  boat  as  it  rolled  from  side 
to  side,  made  every  one  succumb  except   Eliza 


280  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

and  me.  The  General,  completely  subdued  and 
intensely  wretched  physically,  crept  into  his  berth, 
and  though  he  was  so  miserable,  I  remember, 
toward  morning,  a  faint  thrust  of  ridicule  at  our 
adjoining  neighbors,  the  Greens,  who  were  suffer- 
ing also  the  tortures  of  sea-sickness.  A  sarcastic 
query  as  to  the  stability  of  their  stomachs,  called 
forth  a  retort  that  he  had  better  look  to  his  own. 
Eliza  held  me  untiringly,  and  though  the  terror 
of  uncertainty  had  subsided  somewhat,  I  could 
not  get  on  without  an  assurance  of  our  safety 
from  that  upper  berth.  My  husband,  in  his  help- 
lessness, and  abandoned  as  he  was  to  misery, 
could  scarcely  turn  to  speak  more  than  a  word  or 
two  at  a  time,  and  even  then  Eliza  would  tell  him, 
"  Ginnel,  you  jest  'tend  to  your  own  self,  and  I'll 
'tend  to  Miss  Libbie." 

It  is  difficult  to  explain  what  a  shock  it  is  to  find 
one  who  never  succumbs,  entirely  subjugated  by 
suffering  ;  all  support  seems  to  be  removed.  In 
all  our  vicissitudes,  I  had  never  before  seen  the 
General  go  under  for  an  instant.  He  replied  that 
he  was  intensely  sorry  for  me  ;  but  such  deadly 
nausea  made  him  indifferent  to  life,  and  for  his 
part  he  cared  not  whether  he  went  up  or  down. 

So  the  long  night  wore  on.  I  thought  no  dawn 
ever  seemed  so  grateful.  The  waves  were  mount- 
ains high,  and  we  still  plunged  into  what  appeared 


THE  STORM  SUBSIDES.  28 1 

to  be  solid  banks  of  green,  glittering  crystal,  only  to 
drop  down  into  seemingly  hopeless  gulfs.  But  day- 
light diminishes  all  terrors,  and  there  was  hope  with 
the  coming  of  light.  A  few  crept  out,  and  some 
even  took  courage  for  breakfast.  The  feeble  notes 
disappeared  from  my  husband's  voice,  and  he  be- 
gan to  cheer  me  up.  Then  he  crept  to  our  witty 
Mrs.  Green  (the  dear  Nettie  of  our  home  days),  to 
send  more  sly  thrusts  in  her  stateroom,  regarding 
his  opinion  of  one  who  yielded  to  sea-sickness  ;  so 
she  was  badgered  into  making  an  appearance. 
While  all  were  contributing  experiences  of  the 
awful  night,  and  commenting  on  their  terrors,  we 
were  amazed  to  see  the  door  of  a  stateroom 
open,  and  a  German  family  walk  out  uncon- 
cernedly from  what  we  all  night  supposed  was  an 
unoccupied  room.  The  parents  and  three  children 
showed  wide-eyed  and  wide-mouthed  wonder, 
when  they  heard  of  the  night.  Through  all  the 
din  and  danger  they  had  peacefully  slept,  and 
doubtless  would  have  gone  down,  had  we  been 
shipwrecked,  unconscious  in  their  lethargy  that 
death  had  come  to  them. 

Then  the  white,  exhausted  faces  of  our  officers, 
who  had  slept  in  the  other  cabin,  began  to  appear. 
Our  father  Custer  came  tottering  in,  and  made  his 
son  shout  out  with  merriment,  even  in  the  midst 
of  all  the  wretched  surroundings,  when  he  lacon- 


282  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

ically  said  to  his  boy,  that  "next  time  I  follow 
you  to  Texas,  it  will  be  when  this  pond  is 
bridged  over."  Two  of  the  officers  had  a  state- 
room next  the  pilot-house,  and  begged  the  Gen- 
eral to  bring  me  up  there.  My  husband,  feeling 
so  deeply  the  terrible  night  of  terror  and  entire 
wakefulness  for  me,  picked  me  up,  and  carried 
me  to  the  upper  deck,  where  I  was  laid  in  the 
berth,  and  restored  to  some  sort  of  calm  by  an 
opportune  glass  of  champagne.  The  wine  seemed 
to  do  my  husband  as  much  good  as  it  did  me, 
though  he  did  not  taste  it ;  all  vestige  of  his  pros- 
tration of  the  preceding  night  disappeared,  and 
no  one  escaped  his  comical  recapitulation  of  how 
they  conducted  themselves  when  wre  were  threat- 
ened with  such  peril.  My  terrors  of  the  sea  were 
too  deep-rooted  to  be  set  aside,  and  even  after  we 
had  left  the  hated  Gulf,  and  were  safely  moving 
up  the  Mississippi  to  New  Orleans,  I  felt  no  secur- 
ity. Nothing  but  the  actual  planting  of  our  feet  on 
terra  fir  ma  restored  my  equanimity.  Among  the 
petitions  of  the  Litany,  asking  our  Heavenly  Father 
to  protect  us,  none  since  that  Gulf  storm  has  ever 
been  emphasized  to  me  as  the  prayer  for  preserva- 
tion from  "  perils  by  land  and  by  sea." 

New  Orleans  was  again  a  pleasure  to  us,  and 
this  time  we  knew  just  where  to  go  for  recreation 
or  for  our  dinner.  Nearly  a  year  in  Texas  had 


HIGH  ART  DINNERS.  283 

prepared  us  for  gastronomic  feats,  and  though  the 
General  was  by  no  means  a  bon-vivant,  any  one 
so  susceptible  to  surroundings  as  he  would  be 
tempted  by  the  dainty  serving  of  a  French  din- 
ner. Our  party  had  dined  too  often  with  Duke 
Humphrey  in  the  pine  forests  of  Louisiana  and 
Texas,  not  to  enjoy  every  delicacy  served.  All 
through  the  year  it  had  been  the  custom  to  refer 
to  the  luxuries  of  the  French  market,  and  now, 
with  our  purses  a  little  fuller  than  when  we  were 
on  our  way  into  Texas,  we  had  some  royal  times— 
that  is,  for  poor  folks. 

We  took  a  steamer  for  Cairo,  and  though  the 
novelty  of  river  travel  was  over,  it  continued  to  be 
most  enjoyable.  And  still  the  staff  found  the 
dinner-hour  an  event,  as  they  were  making  up  for 
our  limited  bill  of  fare  the  year  past.  A  very 
good  string  band  "  charmed  the  savage " 
while  he  dined.  It  was  the  custom,  now  obsolete, 
to  march  the  white  coated  and  aproned  waiters 
in  file  from  kitchen  to  dining-room,  each  carry- 
ing aloft  some  feat  of  the  cook,  and  as  we 
had  a  table  to  ourselves,  there  was  no  lack  of 
witty  comments  on  this  military  serving  of  our 
food,  and  smacking  of  lips  over  edibles  we  had 
almost  forgotten  in  our  year  of  semi-civilization. 
The  negroes  were  in  a  state  of  perpetual  guffaws 
over  the  remarks  made,  sotto  voce,  by  our  merry 


284  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

table,  and  they  soon  grew  to  be  skillful  confeder- 
ates in  all  the  pranks  practiced  on  our  father 
Custer.  For  instance,  he  slowly  read  over  the  bill 
of  fare,  or  his  sons  read  it,  and  he  chose  the  viands 
as  they  were  repeated  to  him.  Broiled  ham  on 
coals  seemed  to  attract  his  old-fashioned  taste. 
Then  my  husband  said,  "  Of  course,  of  course ; 
what  a  good  selection ! "  and  gave  the  order,  ac- 
companied by  a  significant*  wink  to  the  waiter. 
Presently  our  parent,  feeling  an  unnatural  warmth 
near  his  ear,  would  look  around  to  find  his  order 
filled  literally,  and  the  ham  sizzling  on  red  coals. 
He  naturally  did  not  know  what  to  do  with  the 
dish,  fearing  to  set  the  boat  on  fire,  and  his  sons 
were  preternaturally  absorbed  in  talking  with 
some  one  at  the  end  of  the  table,  while  the  waiter 
slid  back  to  the  kitchen  to  have  his  laugh  out. 

Our  father  Custer  was  of  the  most  intensely 
argumentative  nature.  He  was  the  strongest  sort 
of  politician  ;  he  is  now,  and  grows  excited  and 
belligerent  over  his  party  affairs  at  nearly  eighty, 
as  if  he  were  a  lad.  He  is  beloved  at  home  in 
Monroe,  but  it  is  considered  too  good  fun  not  to 
fling  little  sneers  at  his  candidate  or  party,  just  to 
witness  the  rapidity  with  which  the  old  gentleman 
plunges  into  a  defense.  Michigan's  present  Sec- 
retary of  State,  the  Hon.  Harry  Conant,  my 
husband's,  and  now  my  father's,  faithful  friend, 


A  BELLIGERENT  POLITICIAN.  285 

early  took  his  cue  from  the  General,  and  loses 
no  opportunity  now  to  get  up  a  wordy  war  with 
our  venerable  Democrat,  solely  to  hear  the  defense. 
And  then,  too,  our  father  Custer  considers  it  time 
well  spent  to  "  labor  with  that  young  man"  over 
.  the  error  he  considers  he  has  made  in  the  choice 
of  politics.  As  the  old  gentleman  drives  or  rides 
his  son's  war-horse,  Dandy,  through  the  town,  his 
progress  is  slow,  for  some  voice  is  certain  to  be 
raised  from  the  sidewalk  calling  out,  "  Well, 
father  Custer,  to-day's  paper  shows  your  side  well 
whipped,"  or  a  like  challenge  to  argument.  Dandy 
is  drawn  up  at  once,  and  the  flies  can  nip  his  sides 
at  will,  so  far  as  his  usually  careful  master  is 
conscious  of  him,  as  he  cannot  proceed  until 
the  one  who  has  good-naturedly  agitated  him  has 
been  struggled  over,  to  convince  him  of  the  error 
of  his  belief. 

I  was  driving  with  him  in  Monroe  not  long 
since,  and  as  the  train  was  passing  through  the 
town,  Dandy  was  driven  up  to  the  cars.  I  ex- 
postulated, asking  if  he  intended  him  to  climb 
over  or  creep  under ;  but  he  persisted,  only  ex- 
plaining that  he  wished  me  to  see  how  gentle 
Dandy  could  be.  Suddenly  the  conductor  swung 
himself  from  the  platform,  and  called  out  some 
bantering  words  about  politics.  Our  father  was 
then  for  driving  Dandy  directly  into  the  train.  He 


286  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

fairly  yelled  a  slur  upon  the  other  party,  and  then 
kept  on  talking,  gesticulating  with  his  whip  and 
shaking  it  at  the  conductor,  who  laughed  immod- 
erately as  he  was  being  carried  out  of  sight.  I 
asked  what  was  the  matter — did  he  have  any 
grudge  or  hatred  for  the  man  ?  "  Oh,  no,  daughter, 
he's  a  good  enough  fellow,  only  he's  an  onery 
scamp  of  a  Republican." 

His  sons  never  lost  a  chance  to  enter  into  dis- 
cussion with  him.  I  have  known  the  General  to 
"  bone  up,"  as  his  West  Point  phrase  expressed  it, 
on  the  smallest  details  of  some  question  at  issue 
in  the  Republican  party,  for  no  other  reason  than 
to  fire  his  parent  into  a  defense.  The  discussion 
was  so  earnest,  that  even  I  would  be  deceived  into 
thinking  it  something  my  husband  was  all  on  fire 
about.  But  the  older  man  was  never  rasped  or 
badgered  into  anger.  He  worked  and  struggled 
with  his  boy,  and  mourned  that  he  should  have  a 
son  who  had  so  far  strayed  from  the  truth,  as  he 
understood  it.  The  General  argued  as  vehement- 
ly as  his  father,  and  never  undeceived  him  for 
days,  but  simply  let  the  old  gentleman  think  how 
misguided  he  really  was.  It  served  to  pass  many 
an  hour  of  slow  travel  up  the  river.  Tom  con- 
nived with  the  General  to  deprive  their  father 
temporarily  of  his  dinner.  When  the  plate  was 
well  prepared,  as  was  the  old-time  custom,  the 


BADGERING  SONS.  287 

potato  and  vegetables  seasoned,  the  meat  cut,  it 
was  the  signal  for  my  husband  to  fire  a  bomb  of 
inflammable  information  at  the  whitening-  hairs  of 
his  parent.  The  old  man  would  rather  argue 
than  eat,  and,  laying  down  his  knife  and  fork,  he 
fell  to  the  discussion  as  eagerly  as  if  he  had  not 
been  hungry.  As  the  argument  grew  energetic 
and  more  absorbing,  Tom  slipped  away  the 
father's  plate,  ate  all  the  nicely  prepared  food,  and 
returned  it  empty  to  its  place.  Then  the  General 
tapered  off  his  aggravating  threats,  and  said, 
"  Well,  come,  come,  come,  father,  why  don't  you 
eat  your  dinner  ?"  Father  Ouster's  blank  face  at 
the  sight  of  the  empty  plate  was  a  mirth-provok- 
ing sight  to  his  offspring,  and  they  took  good  care 
to  tip  the  waiter  and  order  a  warm  dinner  for  the 
still  arguing  man.  In  a  quaint  letter,  a  portion  of 
which  I  give  below,  father  Custer  tells  how  early 
in  life  he  began  to  teach  his  boys  politics. 

"  TECUMSEH,  Mich.,  Feb.  3,  1887. 
"  MY  DEAR  DAUGHTER  ELIZABETH  :  I  received 
your  letter,  requesting  me  to  tell  you  something 
of  our  trip  up  the  Mississippi  with  my  dear  boys, 
Autie  and  Tommy.  Well,  as  I  was  always  a  boy 
with  my  boys,  I  will  try  and  tell  you  of  some  of 
our  jokes  and  tricks  on  each  other.  I  want  to  tell 
you  also  of  a  little  incident  when  Autie  was  about 
four  years  old.  He  had  to  have  a  tooth  drawn, 
and  he  was  very  much  afraid  of  blood.  When  I 
took  him  to  the  doctor  to  have  the  tooth  pulled, 


2 88  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

it  was  in  the  night,  and  I  told  him  if  it  bled  well 
it  would  get  well  right  away,  and  he  must  be  a 
good  soldier.  When  he  got  to  the  doctor  he  took 
his  seat,  and  the  pulling  began.  The  forceps 
slipped  off,  and  he  had  to  make  a  second  trial. 
He  pulled  it  out,  and  Autie  never  even  scrunched. 
Going  home,  I  led  him  by  the  arm.  He  jumped 
and  skipped,  and  said,  *  Father,  you  and  me  can 
whip  all  the  Whigs  in  Michigan.'  I  thought  that 
was  saying  a  good  deal,  but  I  did  not  contra- 
dict him. 

"  When  we  were  in  Texas,  I  was  at  Autie's 
headquarters  one  day,  and  something  came  up, 
IVe  forgotten  what  it  was,  but  I  said  I  would  bet 
that  it  was  not  so,  and  he  said  '  What  will  you 
bet?'  I  said,  'I'll  bet  my  trunk.'  I  have  for- 
gotten the  amount  he  put  up  against  it,  but  ac- 
cording to  the  rule  of  betting  he  won  my  trunk. 
I  thought  that  was  the  end  of  it,  as  I  took  it  just 
as  a  joke,  and  I  remained  there  with  him  for  some 
time.  To  my  great  astonishment,  here  came  an 
orderly  with  the  trunk  on  his  shoulder,  and  set 
it  down  before  Autie.  Well,  I  hardly  knew  what 
to  think.  I  hadn't  been  there  long,  and  didn't 
know  camp  ways  very  well.  I  had  always  under- 
stood that  the  soldiers  were  a  pretty  rough  set  of 
customers,  and  I  wanted  to  know  how  to  try  and 
take  care  of  myself,  so  I  thought  I  would  go  up 
to  my  tent  and  see  what  had  become  of  my  goods 
and  chattels.  When  I  got  there,  all  my  things 
were  on  my  bed.  Tom  had  taken  them  out,  and 
he  had  not  been  very  particular  in  getting  them 
out,  so  they  were  scattered  helter-skelter,  for  I 
suppose  he  was  hurried  and  thought  I  would 
catch  him  at  it.  I  began  to  think  that  I  would 
have  to  hunt  quarters  in  some  other  direction. 

"  The  next   trick  Autie   played  me  was  on  ac- 


BOYISH  PRANKS.  289 

count  of  his  knowing  that  I  was  very  anxious  to 
see  an  alligator.  He  was  out  with  his  gun  one 
day,  and  I  heard  him  shoot,  and  when  he  came  up 
to  his  tent  I  asked  him  what  he  had  been  firing  at. 
He  said  an  alligator,  so  I  started  off  to  see  the 
animal,  and  when  I  found  it,  what  do  you  think  it 
was,  but  an  old  Government  mule  that  had  died 
because  it  was  played  out !  Well,  he  had  a  hearty 
laugh  over  that  trick. 

"Then,  my  daughter,  I  was  going  over  my  mess 
bill  and  some  of  my  accounts  with  Tommy,  and 
to  my  great  astonishment  I  found  I  was  out  a 
hundred  dollars.  I  could  not  see  how  I  could 
have  made  such  a  mistake,  but  I  just  kept  this  to 
myself.  I  didn't  say  a  word  about  it  until  Autie 
and  Tom  could  not  stand  it  any  longer,  so  Autie 
asked  me  one  day  about  my  money  matters.  I 
told  him  I  was  out  a  hundred  dollars,  and  I  could  not 
understand  it.  Then  he  just  told  me  that  Tommy 
had  hooked  that  sum  from  me  while  he  was  pre- 
tending to  help  me  straighten  up.  I  went  for 
Tom,  and  got  my  stolen  money  back. 

"The  next  outrage  on  me  was  about  the  mess 
bill.  There  was  you,  Libbie  ;  Autie,  Tom,  Colonel 
and  Mrs.  Green,  Major  and  Mrs.  Lyon,  and  we 
divided  up  the  amount  spent  each  month,  and  all 
took  turns  running  the  mess.  Somehow  or 
other,  my  bill  was  pretty  big  when  Autie  and 
Tom  had  the  mess.  I  just  rebelled  against 
such  extravagance,  and  rather  than  suffer  myself 
to  be  robbed,  I  threatened  to  go  and  mess 
with  the  wagon-master  or  some  other  honest 
soldier,  who  wouldn't  cheat  an  old  man.  That 
tickled  the  boys  ;  it  was  just  what  they  were  aim- 
ing at.  I  wouldn't  pay,  so  what  do  you  think 
Tommy  did,  but  borrow  the  amount  of  me  to  buy 
supplies,  and  when  settling  time  came  for  mess 


TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

bills,  they  said  we  came  out  about  even  in  money 
matters  ! 

"  And  so  they  were  all  the  time  playing  tricks  on 
me,  and  it  pleased  them  so  much  to  get  off  a  good 
joke  ;  besides,  they  knew  I  was  just  as  good  a  boy 
with  them  as  they  were." 

Your  affectionate  father, 

E.  H.  CUSTER. 


CHAPTER   X. 

FATHER     CUSTER     GIVES     AN     ACCOUNT     OF     HOW     HE 
WAS    A    BOY    WITH    HIS    BOYS  ON    THE    MISSISSIPPI 

RIVER A    FAMILY     ROBBERY GENERAL     CUSTER 

PARTS  WITH  HIS  STAFF  AT  CAIRO  AND  DETROIT 
THE  SILENT  HEROES TEMPTATIONS  TO  IN- 
DUCE GENERAL  CUSTER  TO  RESIGN OFFERS 

FROM    MEXICO ONE    OF    HIS  CLASSMATES  ENTERS 

THE    MINISTRY. 

A  LL  the  smaller  schemes  to  tease  our  father 
Custer  gave  way  to  a  grand  one,  concocted 
in  the  busy  brains  of  his  boys,  to  rob  their  parent. 
While  the  patriarch  sat  in  the  cabin,  reading  aloud 
to  himself — as  is  still  his  custom — what  he  consid- 
ered the  soul-convincing  editorial  columns  of  a 
favorite  paper,  his  progeny  were  in  some  sheltered 
corner  of  the  guards,  plotting  the  discomfiture  of 
their  father.  The  plans  were  well  laid ;  but  the 
General  was  obliged  to  give  as  much  time  to  it, 
in  a  way,  as  when  projecting  a  raid,  for  he  knew 
he  had  to  encounter  a  wily  foe  who  was  always 
on  guard.  The  father,  early  in  their  childhood, 
playing  all  sorts  of  tricks  on  his  boys,  was  on  the 


TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

alert  whenever  he  was  with  them,  to  parry  a  re- 
turn thrust.  I  believe  several  attempts  had  been 
made  to  take  the  old  gentleman's  money,  but  he 
was  too  wary.  They  knew  that  he  had  sewed 
some  bills  in  his  waistcoat,  and  that  his  steamer- 
ticket  and  other  money  were  in  his  purse.  These 
he  carefully  placed  under  his  pillow  at  night.  He 
continues  in  his  letter:  "Tommy  and  I  had  a 
stateroom  together,  and  on  one  night  in  particu- 
lar, all  the  folks  had  gone  to  bed  in  the  cabin,  and 
Tom  was  hurrying  me  to  go  to  bed.  I  was  not 
sleepy,  and  did  not  want  to  turn  in,  but  he  hung 
round  so,  that  at  last  I  did  go  to  our  stateroom. 
He  took  the  upper  berth.  I  put  my  vest  under 
the  pillow,  and  was  pulling  off  my  boots,  when  I 
felt  sure  I  saw  something  going  out  over  the 
transom.  I  looked  under  the  pillow,  and  my  vest 
was  gone.  Then  I  waked  Tommy,  who  was  snor- 
ing already.  I  told  him  both  my  purse  and  vest 
were  gone,  and,  as  the  saying  is,  I  '  smelt  the  rat.7 
I  opened  the  door,  and  felt  sure  that  Autie  had 
arranged  to  snatch  the  vest  and  purse  when  it  was 
thrown  out.  I  ran  out  in  the  cabin  to  his  state- 
room, but  he  had  the  start  of  me,  and  was  locked 
in.  I  did  not  know  for  sure  which  was  his  room, 
so  I  hit  and  I  thundered  at  his  door.  The  people 
stuck  their  heads  out  of  their  staterooms,  and 
over  the  transom  came  a  glass  of  water.  So  I, 


FAMILY  THIEVING. 


293 


being  rather  wet,  concluded  I  would  give  it  up 
till  the  next  morning.  And  what  do  you  think 
those  scamps  did  ?  Tom,  though  I  gave  it  to  him 
well,  wouldn't  own  up  to  a  thing,  and  just  said 
'  it  was  too  bad  such  robberies  went  on  in  a  ship 
like  that ; '  he  was  very  sorry  for  me,  and  alluded 
to  the  fact  that  the  door  being  unlocked  was 
proof  that  the  thief  had  a  skeleton  key,  and  all 
that  nonsense.  Next  morning  Autie  met  me,  and 
asked  what  on  earth  I  had  been  about  the  night 
before.  Such  a  fracas,  all  the  people  had  come 
out  to  look  up  the  matter,  and  there  I  was  pound- 
ing at  a  young  lady's  door,  a  friend  of  Libbie's, 
and  a  girl  I  liked  (indeed,  I  had  taken  quite  a 
shine  to  her).  They  made  out — those  shameless 
rogues,  and  very  solemn  Autie  was  about  it,  too 
— that  it  was  not  a  very  fine  thing  for  my  reputa- 
tion to  be  pounding  on  a  young  lady's  door  late 
at  night,  frightening  her  half  to  death,  and  oblig- 
ing her  to  defend  herself  with  a  pitcher  of  water. 
She  thought  I  had  been  trying  to  break  in  her 
door,  and  I  had  better  go  to  her  at  once  and  apol- 
ogize, as  the  whole  party  were  being  compromised 
by  such  scandal.  They  failed  there  ;  for  I  knew 
I  was  not  at  her  door,  and  I  knew  who  it  was  that 
threw  the  water  on  me.  I  was  bound  to  try  and 
get  even  with  them,  so  one  morning,  while  they 
were  all  at  breakfast,  I  went  to  Autie's  stateroom; 


294  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

Eliza  was  making  up  the  bed.  I  looked  for 
Autie's  pocket-book,  and  found  it  under  the  pil- 
low. I  kept  out  of  the  way  and  did  not  come 
near  them  for  some  days ;  but  they  got  desperate 
and  were  determined  to  beat  me,  so  they  made 
it  up  that  Tommy  was  to  get  round  me,  seize 
me  by  my  arms  at  the  back,  and  Autie  go  through 
my  pockets.  Well,  they  left  me  without  a  dime, 
and  I  had  to  travel  without  paying,  and  those  out- 
laws of  boys  got  the  clerk  to  come  to  me  and 
demand  my  ticket.  I  told  him  I  had  none,  that  I 
had  been  robbed.  He  said  he  was  sorry,  but  I 
would  have  to  pay  over  again,  as  some  one  who 
stole  the  ticket  would  be  likely  to  use  it.  I  tried 
to  tell  him  I  would  make  it  right  before  I  left  the 
boat,  but  I  hadn't  a  penny  then.  Well,  daughter, 
I  came  out  best  at  the  last,  for  Autie,  having 
really  all  the  money,  though  he  wouldn't  own  up 
to  it,  had  all  the  bills  to  pay,  and  when  I  got  home 
I  was  so  much  the  gainer,  for  it  did  not  cost  me 
anything  from  the  time  I  left  the  boat,  either,  till 
we  got  home,  and  then  Autie  gave  me  up  my 
pocket-book  with  all  the  money,  and  we  all  had  a 
good  laugh,  while  the  boys  told  their  mother  of 
the  pranks  they  had  played  on  me." 

My  father's  story  ceases  without  doing  justice  to 
himself  ;  for  the  cunning  manner  in  which  he  cir- 
cumvented those  mischievous  fellows,  I  remember, 


STAND  THF.RE,   COWARDS,    WILL  YOU,    AND  SEE  AN  OLD   MAN   ROBBED.'"' 

295 


296  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

and  it  seems  my  husband  had  given  a  full  account 
to  our  friend  the  Hon.  Harry  Conant.  He  writes 
to  me,  what  is  very  true,  that  "  it  seems  one  must 
know  the  quaint  and  brave  old  man,  to  appreciate 
how  exquisitely  funny  the  incident,  as  told  by 
the  General,  really  was.  The  third  day  after  the 
robbery,  the  General  and  Tom,  thinking  their 
father  engaged  at  a  remote  part  of  the  boat,  while 
talking  over  their  escapade  incautiously  exhibited 
the  pocket-book.  Suddenly  the  hand  that  held  it 
was  seized  in  the  strong  grasp  of  the  wronged 
father,  who,  lustily  calling  for  aid,  assured  the 
passengers  that  were  thronging  up  (and,  being 
strangers,  knew  nothing  of  the  relationship  of  the 
parties)  that  this  purse  was  his,  and  that  he  had 
been  robbed  by  these  two  scoundrels,  and  if  they 
would  assist  in  securing  their  arrest  and  restoring^ 
the  purse,  he  would  prove  all  he  said.  Seeing  the 
crowd  hesitate,  he  called  out,  For  shame !  stand 
there,  cowards,  will  you,  and  see  an  old  man 
robbed  ?  "  It  was  enough.  The  spectators  rushed 
in,  and  the  General  was  outwitted  by  his  artful 
parent  and  obliged  to  explain  the  situation.  But 
the  consequent  restoration  of  his  property  did  not 
give  him  half  the  satisfaction  that  it  did  to  turn 
the  tables  on  the  boys.  Though  they  never  ac- 
knowledged this  robbery  to  their  father,  none  were 
so  proud  of  his  victory  as  Tom  and  the  General," 


TURNING  THE  TABLES.  297 

I  must  not  leave  to  the  imagination  of  the  literal- 
minded  people  who  may  chance  to  read,  the 
suspicion  that  my  husband  and  Tom  ever  made 
their  father  in  the  least  unhappy  by  their  incessant 
joking.  He  met  them  half-way  always,  and  I 
never  knew  them  lack  in  reverence  for  his  snowy 
head.  He  was  wont  to  speak  of  his  Texas  life 
with  his  sons  as  his  happiest  year  for  many  pre- 
ceding, and  used  to  say  that,  were  it  not  for  our 
mother's  constantly  increasing  feebleness,  he 
would  go  out  to  them  in  Kansas. 

When  he  reached  his  own  ground,  he  made  Tom 
and  the  General  pay  for  some  of  their  plots  and 
plans  to  render  him  uncomfortable,  by  coming  to 
the  foot  of  the  stairs  and  roaring  out  (and  he  had 
a  stentorian  voice)  that  they  had  better  be  getting 
up,  as  it  was  late.  Father  Custer  thought  6  o'clock 
A.  M.  was  late.  His  sons  differed.  As  soon  as 
they  found  the  clamor  was  to  continue,  assisted 
by  the  dogs,  which  he  had  released  from  the  stable, 
leaping  up-stairs  and  springing  on  our  beds  in  ex- 
citement, they  went  to  the  head  of  the  stairs,  and 
shouted  out  for  everything  that  the  traveler  calls 
for  in  a  hotel — hot  water,  boot-black,  cock-tail,  bar- 
ber, and  none  of  these  being  forthcoming  in  the 
simple  home,  they  vociferated,  in  what  the  out- 
sider might  have  thought  angry  voices,  "  What 
sort  of  hotel  do  you  keep,  any  way  ?  " 


298  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

Father  Custer  had  an  answer  for  every  question, 
and  only  by  talking  so  fast  and  loud  that  they 
talked  him  down  did  they  get  the  better  of  him. 
Our  mother  Custer  almost  invariably  sided  with 
her  boys.  It  made  no  sort  of  difference  if  father 
Custer  stood  alone,  he  never  seemed  to  expect  a 
champion.  He  did  seem  to  think  she  was  carrying 
her  views  to  an  advanced  point,  when  she  endeav- 
ored tp  decline  a  new  cur  that  he  had  introduced 
into  the  house,  on  the  strength  of  its  having  "  no 
pedigree."  Her  sons  talked  dog  to  her  so  much 
that  one  would  be  very  apt  to  be  educated  up  to 
the  demand  for  an  authenticated  grandfather. 
Besides,  the  "Towsers"  and  "  Rovers "  and  all 
that  sort  of  mongrels,  to  which  she  had  patiently 
submitted  in  all  the  childhood  of  her  boys  and 
their  boyish  father,  entitled  her  to  some  choice  in 
after  years. 

At  Cairo  our  partings  began,  for  there  some  of 
the  staff  left  us  for  their  homes.  We  dreaded  to 
give  them  up.  Our  harmonious  life,  and  the 
friendships  welded  by  the  sharing  of  hardships 
and  dangers,  made  us  feel  that  it  would  be  well 
if,  having  tested  one  another,  we  might  go  on  in 
our  future  together.  At  Detroit  the  rest  of  our 
military  family  disbanded.  How  the  General  re- 
gretted them !  The  men,  scarce  more  than  boys 
even  then,  had  responded  to  every  call  to  charge 


LEA  VE-  TAKINGS.  299 

in  his  Michigan  brigade,  and  afterward  hi  the  Third 
Cavalry  Division.  Some,  wounded  almost  to  death, 
had  been  carried  from  his  side  on  the  battle-field, 
as  he  feared,  forever,  and  had  returned  with 
wounds  still  unhealed.  One  of  those  valiant  men 
has  just  died,  suffering  all  these  twenty-three  years 
from  his  wound  ;  but  in  writing,  speaking  in  pub- 
lic when  he  could,  talking  to  those  who  surrounded 
him  when  he  was  too  weak  to  do  more,  one  name 
ran  through  his  whole  anguished  life,  one  hero 
hallowed  his  days,  and  that  was  his  "  boy  general." 
Another — oh  what  a  brave  boy  he  was  ! — took  my 
husband's  proffered  aid,  and  received  an  appoint- 
ment in  the  regular  army.  He  carried  always, 
does  now,  a  shattered  arm,  torn  by  a  bullet  while 
he  was  riding  beside  General  Custer  in  Virginia. 
That  did  not  keep  him  from  giving  his  splendid 
energy,  his  best  and  truest  patriotism,  to  his  coun- 
try down  in  Texas  even  after  the  war,  for  he  rode 
on  long,  exhausting  campaigns  after  the  Indians, 
his  wound  bleeding,  his  life  sapped,  his  vitality 
slipping  away  with  the  pain  that  never  left  him 
day  or  night.  That  summer  when  we  were  at 
home  in  Monroe,  the  General  sent  for  him  to  come 
to  us,  and  get  his  share  of  the  pretty  girls  that 
Tom  and  the  Michigan  staff,  who  lived  near  us, 
were  appropriating.  The  handsome,  dark-haired 
fellow  carried  off  the  favors  ;  for  though  the  oth- 


300 


TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 


ers  had  been  wounded — Tom  even  then  bearing 
the  scarlet  spot  on  his  cheek  where  the  bullet  had 
penetrated — the  last  comer  won,  for  he  still  wore 
his  arm  in  a  sling.  The  bewitching  girls  had  be- 
fore them  the  evidence  of  his  valor,  and  into  what 
a  garden  he  stepped  !  He  was  a  modest  fellow, 
and  would  not  demand  too  much  pity,  but  made 
light  of  his  wound,  as  is  the  custom  of  soldiers, 
who,  dreading  effeminacy,  carry  the  matter  too 
far,  and  ignore  what  ought  not  to  be  looked  upon 
slightingly.  One  day  he  appeared  without  his 
sling,  and  a  careless  girl,  dancing  with  him, 
grasped  the  arm  in  the  forgetfulness  of  glee.  The 
waves  of  torture  that  swept  over  the  young  hero's 
face,  the  alarm  and  pity  of  the  girl,  the  instant 
biting  of  the  lip  and  quick  smile  of  the  man, 
dreading  more  to  grieve  the  pretty  creature  by 
him  than  to  endure  the  physical  agony — oh,  how 
proud  the  General  was  of  him,  and  I  think  he 
felt  badly,  that  a  soldier  cannot  yield  to  impulse, 
and  enfold  his  comrade  in  his  arms,  as  is  our 
woman's  sweet  privilege  with  one  another. 

Proudly  the  General  followed  the  career  of 
those  young  fellows  who  had  been  so  near  him  in 
his  war-life.  Of  all  those  in  whom  he  continued 
always  to  retain  an  interest,  keeping  up  in  some 
instances  a  desultory  correspondence,  the  most 
amazing  evolution  was  that  of  the  provost  marshal 


A  METAMORPHOSED  SOLDIER.  301 

into  a  Methodist  minister.  Whether  he  was  at 
heart  a  stern,  unrelenting  character,  is  a  question 
I  doubted,  for  he  never  could  have  developed  into 
a  clergyman.  But  he  had  the  strangest,  most  im- 
placable face,  when  sent  on  his  thankless  duty  by 
his  commanding  officer.  He  it  was  who  conducted 
the  ceremonies  that  one  awful  day  in  Louisiana, 
when  the  execution  and  pardon  took  place.  I 
remember  the  General's  amazement  when  he  re- 
ceived the  letter  in  which  the  announcement  of  the 
new  life-work  was  made.  It  took  us  both  some 
time  to  realize  how  he  would  set  about  evan- 
gelizing. It  was  difficult  to  imagine  him  leading 
any  one  to  the  throne  of  grace,  except  at  the  point 
of  the  bayonet,  with  a  military  band  playing  the 
Dead  March  in  Saul.  I  know  how  pleased  my 
husband  was,  though,  how  proud  and  glad  to 
know  that  a  splendid,  brave  soldier  had  given 
his  talents,  his  courage — and  oh,  what  courage, 
for  a  man  of  the  world  to  come  out  in  youth  on 
the  side  of  one  mighty  Captain! — and  taken  up  the 
life  of  poverty,  self-denial,  and  something  else  that 
the  General  also  felt  a  deprivation,  the  roving  life 
that  deprives  a  Methodist  minister  of  the  blessings 
of  a  permanent  home. 

The  delightful  letters  we  used  to  get  from  our 
military  family  when  any  epoch  occurred  in  their 
lives,  like  the  choice  of  a  profession  or  business 


3O2  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

(for  most  of  them  went  back  to  civil  life),  their 
marriage,  the  birth  of  a  son — all  gave  my  hus- 
band genuine  pleasure ;  and  when  their  sorrows 
came  he  turned  to  me  to  write  the  letter — a  heart- 
letter,  which  was  his  in  all  but  the  manipulation 
of  the  pen.  His  personal  influence  he  gave,  time 
and  time  again,  when  it  was  needed  in  their 
lives,  and,  best  of  all  in  my  eyes,  had  patience 
with  those  who  had  a  larger  sowing  of  the  wild- 
oat  crop,  which  is  the  agricultural  feature  in  the 
early  life  of  most  men. 

Since  I  seek  to  make  my  story  of  others,  I  take 
the  privilege  of  speaking  of  a  class  of  heroes 
that  I  now  seldom  hear  mentioned,  and  over  whom, 
in  instances  of  my  husband's  personal  friends, 
we  have  grieved  together.  It  is  to  those  who, 
like  his  young  staff-officer,  bear  unhealed  and 
painful  wounds  to  their  life's  end,  that  I  wish 
to  beg  our  people  to  give  thought.  We  felt  it 
rather  a  blessing,  in  one  way,  when  a  man  was 
visibly  maimed  ;  for  if  a  leg  or  an  arm  is  gone,  the 
empty  sleeve  or  the  halting  gait  keeps  his 
country  from  forgetting  that  he  has  braved  every- 
thing to  protect  her.  The  men  we  sorrowed  for 
were  those  who  suffered  silently  ;  and  there  are 
more,  North  and  South,  than  anyone  dreams  of, 
scattered  all  over  our  now  fair  and  prosperous 
land.  Sometimes,  after  they  die,  it  transpires  that 


FORTITUDE  IN  SUFFERING. 


303 


at  the  approach  of   every  storm  they  have  been 
obliged  to  stop  work,  enter  into  the  seclusion  of 
their    rooms,    and  endure  the  racking,  torturing 
pain,  that  began  on  the  battle-field  so  long  ago. 
If  anyone  finds  this  out  in    their  life-time,  it    is 
usually  by  accident ;  and  when  asked  why  they 
suffer  without  claiming  the  sympathy  that  does 
help  us  all,  they  sometimes  reply  that  the  war  is 
too  far  back  to  tax  anyone's  memory  or  sympathy 
now.     Oftener,    they    attempt    to    ignore    what 
they     endure,     and     change     the     subject     in- 
stantly.    People    would     be    surprised   to   know 
how    many     in     the    community,    whom     they 
daily  touch  in  the  jostle  of  life,  are  silent  sufferers 
from    wounds    or    incurable    disease    contracted 
during  the  war  for  the  Union.     The  monuments, 
tablets,  memorials,  which  are  strewn  with  flowers 
and  bathed  with  grateful  tears,  have  often  tribute 
that  should  be  partly  given  to  the  double    hero 
who    bears  on  his  bruised  and  broken  body  the 
torture  of  daily  sacrifice  for  his  country.    People, 
even  if  they  know,  forget  the  look,  the  word  of 
acknowledgment,  that  is  due  the  maimed  patriot. 
I  recall  the  chagrin  I  felt  on  the  Plains  one  day, 
when  one  of  our  Seventh  Cavalry  officers,  with 
whom  we  had  long  been  intimately  associated — 
one  whom   our  people  called  "  Fresh  Smith,"  or 
"  Smithie,"  for  short — came  to  his  wife  to  get  her 


304 


TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 


to  put  on  his  coat.  I  said  something  in  bantering 
tones  of  his  Plains  life  making  him  look  on  his 
wife  as  the  Indian  looks  upon  the  squaw,  and  tried 
to  rouse  her  to  rebellion.  There  was  a  small  blaze, 
a  sudden  scintillation  from  a  pair  of  feminine  eyes, 
that  warned  me  of  wrath  to  come.  The  captain 
accepted  my  banter,  threw  himself  into  the  sad- 
dle, laughed  back  the  advantage  of  this  new  order 
of  things,  where  a  man  had  a  combination,  in  his 
wife,  of  servant  and  companion,  and  tore  out  of 
sight,  leaving  me  to  settle  accounts  with  the 
flushed  madame.  She  told  me,  what  I  never  knew, 
and  perhaps  might  not  even  now,  but  for  the  out- 
burst of  the  moment,  that  in  the  war  "  Smithie  " 
had  received  a  wound  that  shattered  his  shoulder, 
and  though  his  arm  was  narrowly  saved  from 
amputation,  he  never  raised  it  again,  except  a  few 
inches.  As  for  putting  on  his  coat,  it  was  an  im- 
possibility. 

One  day  in  New  York  my  husband  and  I  were 
paying  our  usual  homage  to  the  shop  windows 
and  to  the  beautiful  women  we  passed,  when  he 
suddenly  seized  my  arm  and  said,  "There's  Kid- 
doo  !  Let's  catch  up  with  him."  I  was  skipped 
over  gutters,  and  sped  over  pavements,  the  Gen- 
eral unconscious  that  such  a  gait  is  not  the  usual 
movement  of  the  New  Yorker,  until  we  came  up 
panting  each  side  of  a  tall,  fine-looking  man,  ap- 


A  FIRESIDE  CONFESSION. 


305 


patently  a  specimen  of  physical  perfection.  The 
look  of  longing  that  he  gave  us  as  we  ran  up, 
flushed  and  happy,  startled  me,  and  I  could 
scarcely  wait  until  we  separated  to  know  the 
meaning.  It  was  this  :  General  Joseph  B.  Kid- 
doo,  shot  in  the  leg  during  the  war,  had  still  the 
open  wound,  from  which  he  endured  daily  pain 
and  nightly  torture,  for  he  got  only  fragmentary 
sleep.  To  heal  the  hurt  was  to  end  his  life,  the 
surgeons  said.  When  at  last  I  heard  he  had  been 
given  release  and  slept  the  blessed  sleep,  what 
word  of  sorrow  could  be  framed  ? 

In  the  case  of  another  friend,  with  whom  we 
were  staying  in  Tennessee,  from  whom  my  hus- 
band and  I  extracted  the  information  by  dint  of 
questions  and  sympathy,  when,  late  one  night, 
we  sat  about  the  open  fire  and  were  warmed  into 
confidence  by  its  friendly  glow,  we  found  that  no 
single  night  for  the  twelve  years  after  the  war  had 
such  a  boon  as  uninterrupted  sleep  been  known  to 
him.  A  body  racked  by  pain  was  paying  daily  its 
loyal,  uncomplaining  tribute  to  his  country.  Few 
were  aware  that  he  had  unremitting  suffering  as 
his  constant  companion.  I  remember  that  my 
husband  urged  him  to  marry,  and  get  some  good 
out  of  life,  and  from  the  sympathy  that  wells  per- 
petually in  a  tender  woman's  heart.  But  he  denied 
himself  the  blessing  of  such  companionship,  from 


^»O6  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

\j 

unselfish  motives,  declaring-  he  could  not  ask  a 
woman  to  link  her  fate  with  such  a  broken  life  as 
his.  When  we  left  his  fireside,  my  husband 
counted  him  a  hero  of  such  rare  metal  that  few  in 
his  experience  could  equal  him,  and  years  after- 
ward, when  we  sometimes  read  his  name  in  print, 

he   said,  "  Poor ,    I  wonder  if  there's  any 

let-up  for  the  brave  fellow." 

Our  home-coming  was  a  great  pleasure  to  us 
and  to  our  two  families.  My  own  father  was  proud 
of  the  General's  administration  of  civil  as  well  as 
military  affairs  in  Texas,  and  enjoyed  the  congratu- 
latory letter  of  Governor  Hamilton  deeply. 
The  temptations  to  induce  General  Custer  to  leave 
the  service  and  enter  civil  life  began  at  once,  and 
were  many  and  varied.  He  had  not  been  sub- 
jected to  such  allurements  the  year  after  the  war, 
when  the  country  was  offering  posts  of  honor  to 
returned  soldiers,  but  this  summer  of  our  return 
from  Texas,  all  sorts  of  suggestions  were  made. 
Business  propositions,  with  enticing  pictures  of 
great  wealth,  came  to  him.  He  never  cared  for 
money  for  money's  sake.  No  one  that  does,  ever 
lets  it  slip  through  his  fingers  as  he  did.  Still,  his 
heart  was  set  upon  plans  for  his  mother  and  father, 
and  for  his  brothers'  future,  and  I  can  scarcely  see 
now  how  a  man  of  twenty-five  could  have  turned 
his  back  upon  such  alluring  schemes  for  wealth  as 


OFFERS  FOR  'A  FUTURE.  307 

were  held  out  to  him.  It  was  at  that  time  much 
more  customary  than  now,  even,  to  establish  cor- 
porations with  an  officer's  name  at  the  head  who 
was  known  to  have  come  through  the  war  with 
irreproachable  honor,  proved  possibly  as  much  by 
his  being  as  poor  when  he  came  out  of  service  as 
when  he  went  in,  as  by  his  conduct  in  battle.  The 
country  was  so  unsettled  by  the  four  years  of 
strife  that  it  was  like  beginning  all  over  again, 
when  old  companies  were  started  anew.  Con- 
fidence had  to  be  struggled  for,  and  names  of 
prominent  men  as  associate  partners  or  presidents 
were  sought  for  persistently. 

Politics  offered  another  form  of  temptation. 
The  people  demanded  for  their  representatives 
the  soldiers  under  whom  they  had  served,  prefer- 
ring to  follow  the  same  leaders  in  the  political 
field  that  had  led  them  in  battle.  The  old  sol- 
diers, and  civilians  also,  talked  openly  of  General 
Custer  for  Congressman  or  Governor.  It  was  a 
summer  of  excitement  and  uncertainty.  How 
could  it  be  otherwise  to  a  boy  who,  five  brief 
year  before,  was  a  beardless  youth  with  no  appar- 
ent future  before  him  ?  I  was  too  much  of  a  girl 
to  realize  what  a  summer  it  was.  Indeed,  we 
had  little  chance,  so  fast  did  one  proposition  for 
our  future  follow  upon  the  other.  When  the 
General  was  offered  the  appointment  of  foreign 


308  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

Minister,  I  kept  silence  as  best  I  could,  but  it  was 
desperately  hard  work.  Honors,  according  to 
old  saws,  "  were  empty,"  but  in  that  hey-day 
time  they  looked  very  different  to  me.  I  was 
inwardly  very  proud,  and  if  I  concealed  the  fact 
because  my  husband  expressed  such  horror  of 
inflated  people,  it  was  only  after  violent  effort. 

Among  the  first  propositions  was  one  for  the  Gen- 
eral to  take  temporary  service  with  Mexico.  This 
scheme  found  no  favor  with  me.  It  meant  more 
fighting  and  further  danger  for  my  husband,  and 
anxiety  and  separation  for  me.  Besides,  Texas 
association  with  Mexicans  made  me  think  their 
soldiery  treacherous  and  unreliable.  But  even  in 
the  midst  of  the  suspense  pending  the  decision  I 
was  not  insensible  to  this  new  honor  that  was 
offered. 

Carvajal,  who  was  then  at  the  head  of  the 
Juarez  military  government,  offered  the  post 
of  Adjutant-General  of  Mexico  to  General  Cus- 
ter.  The  money  inducements  were,  to  give  twice 
the  salary  in  gold  that  a  major-general  in  our 
army  receives.  As  his  salary  had  come  down 
from  a  major-general's  pay  of  $8,000  to  $2,000, 
this  might  have  been  a  temptation  surely.  There 
was  a  stipulation,  that  one  or  two  thousand  men 
should  be  raised  in  the  United  States ;  any  debts 
assumed  in  organizing  this  force  to  be  paid  by 


A  COMMENDATORY  LETTER.  309 

the  Mexican  Liberal  Government.  Senor 
Romero,  the  Mexican  Minister,  did  what  he  could 
to  further  the  application  of  Carvajal,  and 
General  Grant  wrote  his  approval  of  General 
Ouster's  acceptance,  in  a  letter  in  which  he  speaks 
of  my  husband  in  unusually  flattering  terms,  as 
one  "  who  rendered  such  distinguished  service  as 
a  cavalry  officer  during  the  war,"  adding,  "  There 
was  no  officer  in  that  branch  of  the  service  who 
had  the  confidence  of  General  Sheridan  to  a 
greater  degree  than  General  Custer,  and  there  is 
no  officer  in  whose  judgment  I  have  greater  faith 
than  in  Sheridan's.  Please  understand,  then,  that 
I  mean  to  endorse  General  Custer  in  a  high  de- 
gree." 

The  stagnation  of  peace  was  being  felt  by 
those  who  had  lived  a  breathless  four  years  at  the 
front.  However  much  they  might  rejoice  that 
carnage  had  ceased  and  no  more  broken  hearts 
need  be  dreaded,  it  was  very  hard  to  quiet  them- 
selves into  a  life  of  inaction.  No  wonder  our 
officers  went  to  the  Khedive  for  service  !  no  won- 
der this  promise  of  active  duty  was  an  inviting 
prospect  for  my  husband !  It  took  a  long  time 
for  civilians  even,  to  tone  themselves  down  to  the 
jog-trot  of  peace. 

Everything  looked,  at  that  time,  as  if  there  was 
success  awaiting  any  soldier  who  was  resolute 


3 10  TJStfT/NQ  ON  TffJS  FLAWS, 

enough  to  lead  troops  against  one  they  considered 
an  invader.  Nothing  nerves  a  soldier's  arm  like 
the  wrong  felt  at  the  presence  of  foreigners  on 
their  own  ground,  and  the  prospect  of  destruction 
of  their  homes.  Maximilian  was  then  uncertain 
in  his  hold  on  the  Government  he  had  established, 
and,  as  it  soon  proved,  it  would  have  been  what 
General  Custer  then  thought  comparatively  an 
easy  matter  to  drive  out  the  usurper.  The  ques- 
tion was  settled  by  the  Government's  refusing  to 
grant  the  year's  leave  for  which  application  was 
made,  and  the  General  was  too  fond  of  his  coun- 
try to  take  any  but  temporary  service  in  another. 
This  decision  made  me  very  grateful,  and  when 
there  was  no  longer  danger  of  further  exposure  of 
life,  I  was  also  thankful  for  the  expressions  of 
confidence  and  admiration  of  my  husband's  ability 
as  a  soldier  that  this  contemplated  move  had 
drawn  out.  I  was  willing  my  husband  should 
accept  any  offer  he  had  received  except  the  last. 
I  was  tempted  to  beg  him  to  resign  ;  for  this 
meant  peace  of  mind  and  a  long,  tranquil  life  for 
me.  It  was  my  father's  counsel  alone,  that  kept 
me  from  urging  each  new  proposition  to  take  up 
the  life  of  a  civilian.  He  advised  me  to  forget 
myself.  He  knew  well  what  a  difficult  task  it  was 
to  school  myself  to  endure  the  life  on  which  I  had 
entered  so  thoughtlessly  as  a  girl.  I  had  never 


FA  THEKL  Y  CO  UN'S  EL.  3  1 1 

been  thrown  with  army  people,  and  knew  nothing 
before  my  marriage  of  the  separations  and  anxie- 
ties of  military  life.  Indeed,  I  was  so  young  that  it 
never  occurred  to  me  that  people  could  become  so 
attached  to  each  other  that  it  would  be  misery  to 
be  separated.  And  now  that  this  divided  exist- 
ence loomed  up  before  me,  father  did  not  blame 
me  for  longing  for  any  life  that  would  ensure  our 
being  together.  He  had  a  keen  sense  of  humor, 
and  could  not  help  reminding  me  occasionally, 
when  I  told  him  despairingly  that  I  could  not,  I 
simply  wozildnot,  live  a  life  where  I  could  not  be 
always  with  my  husband,  of  days  before  I  knew 
the  General,  when  I  declared  to  my  parents,  if 
ever  I  did  marry  it  would  not  be  a  dentist,  as  our 
opposite  neighbor  appeared  never  to  leave  the 
house.  It  seemed  to  me  then  that  the  wife  had  a 
great  deal  to  endure  in  the  constant  presence  of 
her  husband. 

My  father,  strict  in  his  sense  of  duty,  constant- 
ly appealed  to  me  to  consider  only  my  husband's 
interests,  and  forget  my  own  selfish  desires.  In 
an  old  letter  written  at  that  time,  I  quoted  to  the 
General  something  that  father  had  said  to  me : 
"  Why,  daughter,  I  would  rather  have  the  honor 
which  grows  out  of  the  way  in  which  the  battle  of 
Waynesboro  was  fought,  than  to  have  the  wealth 
of  the  Indies.  Armstrong's  battle  is  better  to  hand 


3  I  2  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

down  to  posterity  than  wealth."  He  used  in  those 
days  to  walk  the  floor  and  say  to  me,  "  My  child, 
put  no  obstacles  in  the  way  to  the  fulfillment  of 
his  destiny.  He  chose  his  profession.  He  is  a 
born  soldier.  There  he  must  abide." 

In  the  midst  of  this  indecision,  when  the  Gen- 
eral was  obliged  to  be  in  New  York  and  Washing- 
ton on  business,  my  father  was  taken  ill.  The 
one  whom  I  so  sorely  needed  in  all  those  ten 
years  that  followed,  when  I  was  often  alone  in  the 
midst  of  the  dangers  and  anxieties  and  vicissi- 
tudes attending  our  life,  stepped  into  heaven  as 
quietly  and  peacefully  as  if  going  into  another 
room.  His  last  words  were  to  urge  me  to  do  my 
duty  as  a  soldier's  wife.  He  again  begged  me  to 
ignore  self,  and  remember  that  my  husband 
had  chosen  the  profession  of  a  soldier  ;  in  that  life 
he  had  made  a  name,  and  there,  where  he  was  so 
eminently  fitted  to  succeed,  he  should  remain. 

My  father's  counsel  and  his  dying  words  had 
great  weight  with  me,  and  enabled  me  to  fight 
against  the  selfishness  that  was  such  a  temptation. 
Very  few  women,  even  the  most  ambitious  for 
their  husbands'  future,  but  would  have  confessed, 
at  the  close  of  the  war,  that  glory  came  with  too 
great  sacrifices,  and  they  would  rather  gather  the 
husbands,  lovers  and  brothers  into  the  shelter  of 
the  humblest  of  homes,  than  endure  the  suspense 


AN  OFFICER'S  WORD  HIS  NOTE. 


313 


and  loneliness  of  war-times.  I  am  sure  that  my  fa- 
ther was  right,  for  over  and  over  again,  in  after 
years,  my  husband  met  his  brother  officers  who  had 
resigned,  only  to  have  poured  into  his  ear  regrets 
that  they  had  left  the  service.  I  have  known  him 
come  to  me  often,  saying  he  could  not  be  too 
thankful  that  he  had  not  gone  into  civil  life.  He 
believed  that  a  business  man  or  a  politician  should 
have  discipline  in  youth  for  the  life  and  varied  ex- 
perience  with  all  kinds  of  people,  to  make  a  suc- 
cessful career.  Officers,  from  the  very  nature  of 
their  life,  are  prescribed  in  their  associates.  They 
are  isolated  so  much  at  extreme  posts  that  they 
know  little  or  nothing  of  the  life  of  citizens.  After 
resigning,  they  found  themselves  robbed  of  the 
companionship  so  dear  to  military  people,  unable, 
from  want  of  early  training,  to  cope  successfully 
with  business  men,  and  lacking,  from  inexperience, 
the  untiring,  plodding  spirit  that  is  requisite  to 
the  success  of  a  civilian.  An  officer  rarely  gives 
a  note;  his  promise  is  his  bond.  It  is  seldom  vio- 
lated. It  would  be  impossible  for  me,  even  in  my 
twelve  years'  experience,  to  enumerate  the  times  I 
have  known,  when  long-standing  debts,  for  which 
there  was  not  a  scrap  of  written  proof,  were  paid 
without  solicitation  on  the  part  of  the  friend  who 
was  the  creditor.  One  of  our  New  York  hotels 
furnishes  proof  of  how  an  officer's  word  is  con- 


3  1 4  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

sidered.  A  few  years  since,  Congress  failed  to 
make  the  usual  yearly  appropriation  for  the  pay 
of  the  army.  A  hotel  that  had  been  for  many 
years  the  resort  of  military  people,  immediately 
sent  far  and  wide  to  notify  the  army  that  no  bills 
would  be  presented  until  the  next  Congress  had 
passed  the  appropriation.  To  satisfy  myself,  I 
have  inquired  if  they  lost  by  this,  and  been  assured 
that  they  did  not. 

Men  reared  to  consider  their  word  equal  to  the 
most  binding  legal  contract  ever  made,  would 
naturally  find  it  difficult  to  realize,  when  entering 
civil  life,  that  something  else  is  considered  neces- 
sary. The  wary  take  advantage  of  the  credulity 
of  a  military  man,  and,  usually,  the  first  experience 
is  financial  loss,  to  an  officer  who  has  confidingly 
allowed  a  debt  to  be  contracted  without  all  the 
restrictive  legal  arrangements  with  which  citizens 
have  found  it  necessary  to  surround  money  trans- 
actions. And  so  the  world  goes.  The  capital  with 
which  an  officer  enters  into  businesses  lost  by  too 
much  confidence  in  his  brother  man,  and  when  he 
becomes  richer  by  experience,  he  is  so  poor  in 
pocket  he  cannot  venture  into  competition  with 
the  trained  and  skilled  business  men  among  whom 
he  had  entered  so  sanguinely. 

Politics  also  have  often  proved  disastrous  to 
army  officers.  Allured  by  promises,  they  have 


AMBITIONS  DISAPPOINTED.  3 1  5 

accepted  office,  and  been  allowed  a  brief  success  ; 
but  who  can  be  more  completely  done  for  than  an 
office-holder  whose  party  goes  out  of  power  ?  The 
born  politician,  one  who  has  grown  wary  in  the 
great  game,  provides  for  the  season  of  temporary 
retirement  which  the  superseding  of  his  party 
necessitates.  His  antagonist  calls  it  "  feathering 
his  nest,"  but  a  free-handed  and  sanguine  military 
man  has  done  no  "  feathering,"  and  it  is  simply 
pitiful  to  see  to  what  obscurity  and  absolute  pov- 
erty they  are  brought.  The  men  whose  chestnuts 
the  ingenuous,  unsuspecting  man  has  pulled  out 
of  the  fire,  now  pass  him  by  unnoticed.  Such  an 
existence  to  a  proud  man  makes  him  wish  he  had 
died  on  the  field  of  battle,  before  any  act  of  his 
has  brought  chagrin. 

All  these  things  I  have  heard  my  husband  say, 
when  we  have  encountered  some  heart-broken 
man  ;  and  he  worked  for  nothing  harder  than  that 
they  might  be  reinstated  in  the  service,  or  lifted 
out  of  their  perplexities  by  occupation  of  some 
sort.  There  was  an  officer,  a  classmate  at  West 
Point,  who,  he  felt  with  all  his  heart,  did  right  in 
resigning.  If  he  had  lived  he  would  have  written 
his  tribute,  and  I  venture  to  take  up  his  pen  to  say, 
in  my  inadequate  way,  what  he  would  have  said 
so  well,  moved  by  the  eloquence  of  deep  feeling. 

My   husband    believed    in   what   old-fashioned 


3 1 6  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

people  term  a  "  calling-,"  and  he  himself  had  felt  a 
call  to  be  a  soldier,  when  he  could  scarcely  toddle. 
It  was  not  the  usual  early  love  of  boys  for  adven- 
ture. We  realize  how  natural  it  is  for  a  lad  to 
enjoy  tales  of  hotly  contested  fields,  and  to  glory 
over  bloodshed.  The  boy  in  the  Sunday-school, 
when  asked  what  part  of  the  Bible  he  best  liked, 
said  promptly,  "The  fightenest  part !"  and  another, 
when  his  saintly  teacher  questioned  him  as  to 
whom  he  first  wished  to  see  when  he  reached 
heaven,  vociferated  loudly,  "Goliath!"  But  the 
love  of  a  soldier's  life  was  not  the  fleeting  desire 
of  the  child,  in  my  husband;  it  became  the  steady 
purpose  of  his  youth,  the  happy  realization  of  his 
early  manhood.  For  this  reason  he  sympathized 
with  all  who  felt  themselves  drawn  to  a  certain 
place  in  the  world.  He  thoroughly  believed  in  a 
boy  (if  it  was  not  a  pernicious  choice)  having 
his  "bent."  And  so  it  happened,  when  it  was 
our  good  fortune  to  be  stationed  with  his  class- 
mate, Colonel  Charles  C.  Parsons,  at  Leavenworth, 
that  he  gave  a  ready  ear  when  his  old  West  Point 
chum  poured  out  his  longings  for  a  different  sphere 
in  life.  He  used  to  come  to  me  after  these  ses- 
sions, when  the  Colonel  went  over  and  over  again 
his  reasons  for  resigning,  and  wonder  how  he 
could  wish  to  do  so,  but  he  respected  his  friend's 
belief,  that  he  had  another  "  calling "  too  thor- 


FRIENDS  IN  COUNCIL.  3  [  7 

oughly  to  oppose  him.  He  thought  the  place  of 
captain  of  a  battery  of  artillery  the  most  inde- 
pendent in  the  service.  He  is  detached  from  his 
regiment,  he  reports  only  to  the  commanding 
officer  of  the  post,  he  is  left  so  long  at  one  station 
that  he  can  make  permanent  arrangements  for  com- 
fort, and,  except  in  times  of  war,  the  work  is  gar- 
rison and  guard  duty.  Besides  this,  the  pay  of  a 
captain  of  a  battery  is  good,  and  he  is  not  subject 
to  constant  moves,  which  tax  the  finances  of  a 
cavalry  officer  so  severely.  After  enumerating 
these  advantages,  he  ended  by  saying,  "  There's 
nothing  to  be  done,  though,  for  if  Parsons  thinks 
he  ought  to  go  into  an  uncertainty,  and  leave  what 
is  a  surety  for  life,  why,  he  ought  to  follow  his 
convictions." 

The  next  time  we  saw  the  Colonel,  he  was  the 
rector  of  a  small  mission  church  on  the  outskirts 
of  Memphis.  We  were  with  the  party  of  the 
Grand  Duke  Alexis  when  he  went  by  steamer  to 
New  Orleans.  General  Sheridan  had  asked  Gen- 
eral Custer  to  go  on  a  buffalo-hunt  with  the  Duke 
in  the  Territory  of  Wyoming,  and  he  in  turn 
urged  the  General  to  remain  with  him  afterward, 
until  he  left  the  country.  At  Memphis,  the  city 
gave  a  ball,  and  my  husband  begged  his  old  com- 
rade to  be  present.  It  was  the  first  time  since  his 
resignation  that  the  Colonel  and  his  beautiful 


318  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

wife  had  been  in  society.  Their  parish  was  poor, 
and  they  had  only  a  small  and  uncertain  salary. 
Colonel  Parsons  was  not  in  the  least  daunted  ;  he 
was  as  hopeful  and  as  enthusiastic  as  such  earnest 
people  alone  can  be,  as  certain  he  was  right  as  if 
his  duty  had  been  revealed  to  him,  as  divine  mes- 
sages were  to  the  prophets  of  old.  The  General 
was  touched  by  the  fearless  manner  in  which  he 
faced  poverty  and  obscurity. 

It  would  be  necessary  for  one  to  know,  by 
actual  observation,  what  a  position  of  authority, 
of  independence,  of  assured  and  sufficient  income, 
he  left,  to  sink  his  individuality  in  this  life  that  he 
consecrated  to  his  Master.  When  he  entered  our 
room,  before  we  went  to  the  ballroom,  he  held 
up  his  gloved  hands  to  us  and  said  :  "  Ouster,  I 
wish  you  to  realize  into  what  extravagance  you 
have  plunged  me.  Why,  old  fellow,  this  is  my  first 
indulgence  in  such  frivolities  since  I  came  down 
here."  Mrs.  Parsons  was  a  marvel  to  us.  The 
General  had  no  words  that  he  thought  high 
enough  praise  for  her  sacrifice.  Hers  was  for  her 
husband,  and  not  a  complaint  did  she  utter. 

Here,  again,  I  should  have  to  take  my  citizen 
reader  into  garrison  before  I  could  make  clear 
what  it  was  that  she  gave  up.  The  vision  of  that 
pretty  woman,  as  I  remember  her  at  Leaven- 
worth,  is  fresh  in  my  mind.  She  danced  and 


A   WIFE'S  SACRIFICE. 


319 


rode  charmingly,  and  was  gracious  and  free  from 
the  spiteful  envy  that  sometimes  comes^  when  a 
garrison  belle  is  so  attractive  that  the  gossips  say 
she  absorbs  all  the  devotion.  Colonel  Parsons, 
not  caring  much  for  dancing,  used  to  stand  and 
watch  with  pride  and  complete  confidence  when 
the  men  gathered  round  his  wife  at  our  hops. 
There  were  usually  more  than  twice  as  many  men 
as  women,  and  the  card  of  a  good  dancer  and  a 
favorite  was  frequently  filled  before  she  left  her 
own  house  for  the  dancing-room.  I  find  myself 
still  wondering  how  any  pretty  woman  ever  kept 
her  mental  poise  when  queening  it  at  those 
Western  posts.  My  husband,  who  never  failed 
to  be  the  first  to  notice  the  least  sacrifice  that  a 
woman  made  for  her  husband,  looked  upon  Mrs. 
Parsons  with  more  and  more  surprise  and  admi- 
ration, as  he  contrasted  the  life  in  which  we  found 
her,  with  her  former  fascinating  existence. 

The  Colonel,  after  making  his  concession  and 
coming  to  our  ball,  asked  us  in  turn  to  be  present 
at  his  church  on  the  following  Sunday,  and  gave 
the  General  a  little  cheap  printed  card,  which  he 
used  to  find  his  way  to  the  suburbs  of  the  city. 
Colonel  Parsons  told  me,  next  day,  that  when  he 
entered  the  reading-desk  and  looked  down  upon 
the  dignified,  reverent  head  of  my  husband,  a 
remembrance  of  the  last  time  he  had  seen  him  in 


-•2O  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

o 

the  chapel  at  West  Point,  came  like  a  flash  of  light- 
ning into  his  mind,  and  he  almost  had  a  convul- 
sion, in  endeavoring  to  suppress  the  gurgles  of 
laughter  that  struggled  for  expression.  For  an 
instant  he  thought,  with  desperate  fright,  that  he 
would  drop  down  behind  the  desk  and  have  it  out, 
and  only  by  the  most  powerful  effort  did  he  rally. 
It  seems  that  a  cadet  in  their  corps  had  fiery  red 
hair,  and  during  the  stupid  chapel  sermon  Cadet 
Custer  had  run  his  fingers  into  the  boy's  hair,  who 
was  in  front  of  him,  pretending  to  get  them  into 
white  heat,  and  then,  taking  them  out,  pounded 
them  as  on  an  anvil.  It  was  a  simple  thing,  and  a 
trick  dating  many  years  back,  but  the  drollery  and 
quickness  of  action  made  it  something  a  man 
could  not  recall  with  calmness. 

Colonel  Parsons  and  his  wife  are  receiving  the 
rewards  that  only  Heaven  can  give  to  lives  of 
self-sacrifice.  Mrs.  Parsons,  after  they  came 
North  to  a  parish,  only  lived  a  short  time  to  en- 
joy the  comfort  of  an  Eastern  home.  When  the 
yellow  fever  raged  so  in  the  Mississippi  Valley,  in 
1878,  and  volunteers  came  forward  with  all  the 
splendid  generosity  of  this  part  of  the  world, 
Colonel  Parsons  did  not  wait  a  second  call  from 
his  conscience  to  enter  the  fever-scourged  Mem- 
phis, and  there  he  ended  a  martyr  life  :  not  only 
ready  to  go  because  in  his  Master's  service,  but 


A  MARTYR'S  RE  WARD.  3  2  I 

because  the  best  of  his  life,  and  one  for  whom 
he  continually  sorrowed,  awaited  him  beyond  the 
confines  of  eternity. 


CHAPTER  XL 

RECEPTION  BY  THE  WAR   VETERANS  OF  THEIR   BOY  GEN- 
ERAL  APPOINTED     LIEUTENANT-COLONEL    OF    THE 

SEVENTH  CAVALRY A    RAID  AFTER  A  PRETTY  GIRL 

OUR    FAMILY    OF    HORSES  AND  DOGS ORDERS  TO 

REPORT    AT    FORT    RILEY,   KANSAS JOLLIFICATIONS 

AT    ST.    LOUIS FRIENDSHIP     FOR    LAWRENCE    BAR- 
RETT. 

/^ENERAL  CUSTER  was  the  recipient  of 
much  kindness  from  the  soldiers  of  his 
Michigan  brigade  while  he  remained  in  Michigan 
awaiting  orders,  and  he  went  to  several  towns 
where  his  old  comrades  had  prepared  receptions 
for  him.  But  when  he  returned  from  a  re-union 
in  Detroit  to  our  saddened  home,  there  was  no 
grateful,  proud  father  to  listen  to  the  accounts  of 
the  soldiers'  enthusiasm.  My  husband  missed  his 
commendation,  and  his  proud  way  of  referring  to 
his  son.  His  own  family  were  near  us,  and  off  he 
started,  when  he  felt  the  absence  of  the  noble 
parent  who  had  so  proudly  followed  his  career, 
and,  running  through  our  stable  to  shorten  the 

distance,  danced  up  a  lane  through  a  back   gate 

322 


A  SOLDIERS  NAMESAKES.  323 

into  his  mother's  garden,  and  thence  into  the 
midst  of  his  father's  noisy  and  happy  household. 
His  parents,  the  younger  brother,  Boston,  sister 
Margaret,  Colonel  Tom,  and  often  Eliza,  made  up 
the  family,  and  the  uproar  that  these  boys  and 
the  elder  boy,  their  father,  made  around  the 
gentle  mother  and  her  daughters,  was  a  marvel 
to  me. 

If  the  General  went  away  to  some  soldiers' 
re-union,  he  tried  on  his  return  to  give  me  a  lucid 
account  of  the  ceremonies,  and  how  signally  he 
failed  in  making  a  speech,  of  course,  and  his  sub- 
terfuge for  hiding  his  confusion  and  getting  out 
of  the  scrape  by  proposing  "  Garryowen  "  by  the 
band,  or  three  cheers  for  the  old  brigade.  It  was 
not  that  he  had  not  enough  to  say  :  his  heart  was 
full  of  gratitude  to  his  comrades,  but  the  words 
came  forth  with  such  a  rush,  there  was  little 
chance  of  arriving  at  the  meaning.  I  think 
nothing  moved  him  in  this  coming  together  of 
his  dear  soldiers,  like  his  pride  at  their  naming 
babies  after  him.  His  eyes  danced  with  pleasure, 
when  he  told  that  they  stopped  him  in  the  street 
and  held  up  a  little  George  Armstrong  Custer, 
and  the  shy  wife  was  brought  forward  to  be  con- 
gratulated. I  dearly  loved,  when  I  chanced  to  be 
with  him,  to  witness  their  pride  and  hear  their 
few  words  of  praise. 


324  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

Not  long  ago  I  was  in  a  small  town  in  Michi- 
gan, among  some  of  my  husband's  old  soldiers. 
Our  sister  Margaret  was  reciting  for  the  benefit  of 
the  little  church,  and  the  veterans  asked  for  me 
afterward,  and  I  shook  hands  with  a  long  line  of 
bronzed  heroes,  now  tillers  of  the  soil.  Their 
praise  of  their  "  boy  General  "  made  my  grateful 
tears  flow,  and  many  of  their  eyes  moistened  as 
they  held  my  hand  and  spoke  of  war-times.  After 
all  had  filed  by,  they  began  to  return  one  by  one 
and  ask  to  bring  their  wives  and  children.  One 
soldier,  with  already  silvering  head,  said  quaintly, 
"  We  have  often  seen  you  riding  around  with  our 
General  in  war-days "  and  added,  with  a  most 
flattering  ignoring  of  time's  treatment  of  me, 
"  You  look  just  the  same,  though  you  was  a  young 
gal  then ;  and  now,  tho'  you  followed  your  hus- 
band and  took  your  hardships  with  us,  I  want  to 
show  you  an  old  woman  who  was  also  a  purty 
good  soldier,  for  while  I  was  away  at  the  front 
she  run  the  farm."  Such  a  welcome,  such  honest 
tribute  to  his  "  old  woman,"  recalled  the  times 
when  the  General's  old  soldiers  gathered  about 
him,  with  unaffected  words,  and  when  I  pitied 
him  because  he  fidgeted  so,  and  bit  his  lips,  and 
struggled  to  end  what  was  the  joy  of  his  life,  for 
fear  he  would  cry  like  a  woman.  Among  those 
who  sought  him  out  that  summer  was  an  officer 


A  BOY'S  HERO  WORSHIP.  ^2^ 

«j    j 

who  had  commanded  a  regiment  of  troops  in  the 
celebrated  Michigan  brigade.  Colonel  George 
Grey,  a  brave  Irishman,  with  as  much  enthusiasm 
in  his  friendships  as  in  his  fighting.  His  wife  and 
little  son  were  introduced.  The  boy  had  very 
light  hair,  and  though  taught  to  reverence  and  love 
the  General  by  his  gallant,  impulsive  father,  the 
child  had  never  realized  until  he  saw  him  that  his 
father's  hero  also  had  a  yellow  head.  Heretofore 
the  boy  had  hated  his  hair,  and  implored  his 
mother  to  dye  it  dark.  But  as  soon  as  his  inter- 
view with  my  husband  was  ended,  he  ran  to  his 
mother,  and  whispered  in  eager  haste  that  she 
need  not  mind  the  dyeing  now  ;  he  never  would 
scold  about  his  hair  being  light  again,  since  he 
had  seen  that  General  Ouster's  was  yellow.  " 

As  I  look  back  and  consider  what  a  descent  the 
major-generals  of  the  war  made,  on  returning  to 
their  lineal  rank  in  the  regular  army  after  the  sur- 
render at  Appomattox,  I  wonder  how  they  took 
the  new  order  of  things  so  calmly,  or  that  they 
so  readily  adapted  themselves  to  the  positions 
they  had  filled  before  the  firing  on  Sumter  in 
1 86 1.  General  Custer  held  his  commission  as 
brevet  major-general  for  nearly  a  year  after  the 
close  of  hostilities,  and  until  relieved  in  Texas. 
He  did  not  go  at  once  to  his  regiment,  the  Fifth 
Cavalry,  and  take  up  the  command  of  sixty  men 


326  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

in  place  of  thousands,  as  other  officers  of  the 
regular  army  were  obliged  to  do,  but  was  placed 
on  waiting  orders,  and  recommended  to  the  lieu- 
tenant-colonelcy of  one  of  the  new  regiments  of 
cavalry,  for  five  new  ones  liad  been  formed  that 
summer,  making  ten  in  all.  In  the  autumn,  the 
appointment  to  the  Seventh  Cavalry  came,  with 
orders  to  go  to  Fort  Garland.  One  would  have 
imagined,  by  the  jubilant  manner  in  which  this 
official  document  was  unfolded  and  read  to  me, 
that  it  was  the  inheritance  of  a  principality.  My 
husband  instantly  began  to  go  over  the  "  good 
sides "  of  the  question.  He  was  so  given  to 
dwelling  on  the  high  lights  of  any  picture  his  im- 
agination painted,  that  the  background,  which 
might  mean  hardships  and  deprivations,  became 
indefinite  in  outline,  and  obscure  enough  in  detail 
to  please  the  most  modern  impressionists.  Out 
of  our  camp  luggage  a  map  was  produced,  and 
Fort  Garland  was  discovered,  after  long  prowling 
about  with  the  first  finger,  in  the  space  given  to 
the  Rocky  Mountains.  Then  he  launched  into 
visions  of  what  unspeakable  pleasure  he  would 
have,  fishing  for  mountain  trout  and  hunting 
deer.  As  I  cared  nothing  for  fishing,  and  was 
afraid  of  a  gun,  I  don't  recall  my  veins  bounding 
as  his  did  over  the  prospect  ;  but  the  embryo  fish- 
erman and  Nimrod  was  so  sanguine  over  his 


A  MOUNTAIN  POST.  327 

future,  it  would  have  been  a  stolid  soul  indeed 
that  did  not  begin  to  think  Fort  Garland  a  sort 
of  earthly  paradise.  The  sober  colors  in  this 
vivid  picture  meant  a  small,  obscure  post,  then 
several  hundred  miles  from  any  railroad,  not 
much  more  than  a  handful  of  men  to  command, 
the  most  complete  isolation,  and  no  prospect  of 
an  active  campaign,  as  it  was  far  from  the  range 
of  the  war-like  Indians.  But  Fort  Garland  soon 
faded  from  our  view,  in  the  excitement  and  inter- 
est over  Fort  Riley,  as  soon  as  our  orders  were 
changed  to  that  post.  We  had  no  difficulty  in 
finding  it  on  the  map,  as  it  was  comparatively  an 
old  post,  and  the  Kansas  Pacific  Railroad  was 
within  ten  miles  of  the  Government  reservation. 
We  ascertained,  by  inquiry,  that  it  was  better  to 
buy  the  necessary  household  articles  at  Leaven- 
worth,  than  to  attempt  to  carry  along  even  a  sim- 
ple outfit  from  the  East.  My  attention  had  been 
so  concentrated  on  the  war,  that  I  found  the  map 
of  Virginia  had  heretofore  comprised  the  only  im- 
portant part  of  the  United  States  to  me,  and  it 
was  difficult  to  realize  that  Kansas  had  a  city  of 
25,000  inhabitants,  with  several  daily  papers. 
Still,  I  was  quite  willing  to  trust  to  Leavenworth 
for  the  purchase  of  household  furniture,  as  it 
seemed  to  me,  what  afterward  proved  true, 
that  housekeeping  in  garrison  quarters  was  a 


328  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

sort  of  camping  out  after  all,  with  one  foot  in  a 
house  and  another  in  position  to  put  into  the  stir- 
rup and  spin  "  over  the  hills  and  far  away."  We 
packed  the  few  traps  that  had  been  used  in  camp- 
ing in  Virginia  and  Texas,  but  most  of  our  atten- 
tion was  given  to  the  selection  of  a  pretty  girl, 
who,  it  was  held  by  both  of  us,  would  do  more 
toward  furnishing  and  beautifying  our  army  quar- 
ters than  any  amount  of  speechless  bric-a-brac  or 
silent  tapestry.  It  was  difficult  to  obtain  what 
seemed  the  one  thing  needful  for  our  new  army 
home.  In  the  first  place,  the  mothers  rose  en 
masse  and  formed  themselves  into  an  anti-frontier 
combination.  They  looked  right  into  my  eyes, 
with  harassed  expression,  and  said,  "  Why,  Libbie, 
they  might  marry  an  officer !"  ignoring  the  fact 
that  the  happiest  girl  among  them  had  undergone 
that  awful  fate,  and  still  laughed  back  a  denial  of 
its  being  the  bitterest  lot  that  can  come  to  a 
woman.  Then  I  argued  that  perhaps  their 
daughters  might  escape  matrimony  entirely,  under 
the  fearful  circumstances  which  they  shuddered 
over,  even  in  contemplation,  but  that  it  was  only 
fair  that  the  girls  should  have  a  chance  to  see  the 
"  bravest  and  the  tenderest,"  and,  I  mentally  added, 
the  "  livest  "  men,  for  our  town  had  been  forsaken 
by  most  of  the  ambitious,  energetic  boys  as  soon 
as  their  school-days  ended.  The  "  beau  season  " 


FAILING  IN  A  CAPTURE.  329 

was  very  brief,  lasting  only  during  their  summer 
vacations,  when  they  came  from  wide-awake 
western  towns  to  make  love  in  sleepy  Monroe. 
One  mother  at  last  listened  to  my  arguments,  and 
said,  "  I  do  want  Laura  to  see  what  men  of  the 
world  are,  and  she  shall  go."  Now,  this  lovely 
mother  had  been  almost  a  second  one  to  me  in  all 
my  lonely  vacations,  after  my  own  mother  died. 
She  took  me  from  the  seminary,  and  gave  me 
treats  with  her  own  children,  and  has  influenced 
my  whole  life  by  her  noble,  large  way  of  looking 
at  the  world.  But,  then,  she  has  been  East  a  great 
deal,  and  in  Washington  in  President  Pierce's 
days,  and  realized  that  the  vision  of  the  outside 
world,  seen  only  from  our  Monroe,  was  narrow. 
The  dear  Laura  surprised  me  by  asking  to  have 
over  night  to  consider,  and  I  could  not  account 
for  it,  as  she  had  been  so  radiant  over  the  prospect 
of  military  life.  Alas !  next  morning  the  riddle 
was  solved,  when  she  whispered  in  my  ear  that 
there  was  a  youth  who  had  already  taken  into  his 
hands  the  disposal  of  her  future,  and  "  he "  ob- 
jected. So  we  lost  her. 

Monroe  was  then  thought  to  have  more  pretty 
girls  than  any  place  of  its  size  in  the  country. 
In  my  first  experience  of  the  misery  of  being  para- 
graphed, it  was  announced  that  General  Custer  had 
taken  to  himself  a  wife,  in  a  town  where  ninety- 


330  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

nine  marriageable  girls  were  left.  The  fame  of 
the  town  had  gone  abroad,  though,  and  the 
ninety-nine  were  not  without  opportunities. 
Widowers  came  from  afar,  with  avant  couriers  in 
the  shape  of  letters  describing  their  wealth,  their 
scholarly  attainments,  and  their  position  in  the 
community.  The  "boys"  grown  to  men  halted 
in  their  race  for  wealth  long  enough  to  rush 
home  and  propose.  Often  we  were  all  under  in- 
spection, and  though  demure  and  seemingly  un- 
conscious, I  remember  the  after-tea  walks  when  a 
knot  of  girls  went  off  to  "  lovers'  lane "  to  ex- 
change experiences  about  some  stranger  from 
afar,  who  had  been  brought  around  by  a  solicit- 
ous match-maker  to  view  the  landscape  o'er,  and 
I  am  afraid  we  had  some  sly  little  congratulations 
when  he,  having  shown  signs  of  the  conquering 
hero,  was  finally  sent  on  his  way,  to  seek  in  other 
towns,  filled  with  girls,  "fresh  woods  and  past- 
ures new."  I  cannot  account  for  the  beauty  of 
the  women  of  Monroe;  the  mothers  were  the 
softest,  serenest,  smoothest-faced  women,  even 
when  white-haired.  It  is  true  it  was  a  very  quiet 
life,  going  to  bed  with  the  chickens,  and  up  early 
enough  to  see  the  dew  on  the  lawns.  There  was 
very  little  care,  to  plant  furrows  in  the  cheeks 
and  those  tell-tale  radiating  lines  about  the  eyes. 
Nearly  everybody  was  above  want,  and  few  had 


SUN-BURN  AS  AN  ARGUMENT.  33 1 

enough  of  this  world's  goods  to  incite  envy  in  the 
hearts  of  the  neighbors,  which  does  its  share  in  a 
younger  face.  I  sometimes  think  the  vicinity  of 
Lake  Erie,  and  the  moist  air  that  blew  over  the 
marsh,  kept  the  complexions  fresh.  I  used  to 
feel  actually  sorry  for  my  husband,  when  we  ap- 
proached Monroe  after  coming  from  the  cam- 
paigns. He  often  said :  "  Shall  we  not  stop  in 
Detroit  a  day  or  two,  Libbie,  till  you  get  the 
tired  look  out  of  your  face  ?  I  dread  going  among 
the  Monroe  women  and  seeing  them  cast  reproach- 
ful looks  at  me,  when  your  sun-burned  face  is  in- 
troduced among  their  fair  complexions.  When 
you  are  tired  in  addition,  they  seem  to  think  I  am 
a  wretch  unhung,  and  say,  '  Why,  General !  what 
have  you  done  with  Libbie's  transparent  skin?'  I 
am  afraid  it  is  hopelessly  dark  and  irredeemably 
thickened !"  In  vain  I  argued  that  it  wouldn't  be 
too  thick  to  let  them  all  see  the  happy  light  shine 
through,  and  if  his  affection  survived  my  altered 
looks,  I  felt  able  to  endure  the  wailing  over  what 
they  thought  I  had  lost.  After  all,  it  was  very 
dear  and  kind  of  them  to  care,  and  my  husband 
appreciated  their  solicitude,  even  when  he  was 
supposed  to  be  in  disgrace  for  having  subjected 
me  to  such  disfigurement.  Still,  these  mothers 
were  neither  going  to  run  the  risk  of  the  peach- 
bloom  and  cream  of  their  precious  girls  all  run- 


*«2  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS, 

•j  \j 

ning  riot  into  one  broad  sun-burn  up  to  the  roots 
of  the  hair,  and  this  was  another  reason,  in  addi- 
tion to  the  paramount  one  that  "the  girls  might 
marry  into  the  army."  The  vagrant  life,  the  ina- 
bility to  keep  household  gods,  giving  up  the  privi- 
leges of  the  church  and  missionary  societies,  the 
loss  of  the  simple  village  gayety,  the  anxiety  and 
suspense  of  a  soldier's  wife,  might  well  make  the 
mothers  opposed  to  the  life,  but  this  latter  reason 
did  not  enter  into  all  their  minds.  Some  thought 
of  the  loaves  and  fishes.  One  said,  in  trying  to 
persuade  me  that  it  was  better  to  break  my  engage- 
ment with  the  General,  "Why,  girl,  you  can't  be 
a  poor  man's  wife,  and,  besides,  he  might  lose  a 
leg !"  I  thought,  even  then,  gay  and  seemingly 
thoughtless  as  I  was,  that  a  short  life  with  poverty 
and  a  wooden  leg  was  better  than  the  career  sug- 
gested to  me.  I  hope  the  dear  old  lady  is  not 
blushing  as  she  reads  this,  and  I  remind  her  how 
she  took  me  up  into  a  high  mountain  and  pointed 
out  a  house  that  might  be  mine,  with  so  many 
dozen  spoons  "solid,"  so  many  sheets  and  pillow- 
slips, closets  filled  with  jars  of  preserved  fruit,  all 
of  which  I  could  not  hope  to  have  in  the  life  in 
which  I  chose  to  cast  my  lot,  where  peaches 
ripened  on  no  garden-wall  and  bank-accounts 
were  unknown. 

When  we  were  ready  to  set  out  for  the  West,  in 


I 
I1 


333 


334  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

October,  1866,  our  caravan  summed  up  some- 
thing like  this  list !  My  husband's  three  horses — 
Jack  Rucker,  the  thoroughbred  mare  he  had 
bought  in  Texas;  a  blooded  colt  from  Virginia 
named  Phil  Sheridan  ;  and  my  own  horse,  a  fast 
pacer  named  Custis  Lee,  the  delight  of  my  eyes 
and  the  envy  of  the  General's  staff  while  we  were 
in  Virginia  and  Texas — several  hounds  given  to 
the  General  by  the  planters  with  whom  he  had 
hunted  deer  in  Texas  ;  a  superb  greyhound,  the 
most  kingly  dog  I  ever  saw;  the  cushion  of  his 
feet  seemed  to  spring  as  he  stepped,  and  his  head 
was  carried  so  loftily  as  he  walked  his  lordly  way 
among  the  other  dogs,  that  I  thought  he  would 
have  asked  to  carry  his  family-tree  on  his  brass 
collar,  could  he  have  spoken  for  his  rights.  Last 
of  all,  some  one  had  given  us  the  ugliest  white 
bull-dog  I  ever  saw.  But  in  time  we  came  to 
think  that  the  twist  in  his  lumpy  tail,  the  curve  in 
his  bow  legs,  the  ambitious  nose,  which  drew  the 
upper  lip  above  the  heaviest  of  protruding  jaws, 
were  simply  beauties,  for  the  dog  was  so  affec- 
tionate and  loyal,  that  everything  which  at  first 
seemed  a  draw-back  leaned  finally  to  virtue's  side. 
He  was  well  named  "Turk,"  and  a  "set  to"  or  so 
with  Byron,  the  domineering  greyhound,  estab- 
lished his  rights,  so  that  it  only  needed  a  deep 
growl  and  an  uprising  of  the  bristles  on  his  back, 


A  FAMIL Y  PARJ  Y.  335 


to  recall  to  the  overbearing  aristocrat  some  whole- 
some lessons  given  him  when  the  acquaintance 
began.  Turk  was  devoted  to  the  colt  Phil,  and 
the  intimacy  of  the  two  was  comical ;  Phil  repaid 
Turk's  little  playful  nips  at  the  legs  by  lifting  him 
in  his  teeth  as  high  as  the  feed-box,  by  the  loose 
skin  of  his  back.  But  nothing  could  get  a  whim- 
per out  of  him,  for  he  was  the  pluckiest  of  brutes. 
He  curled  himself  up  in  Phil's  stall  when  he  slept, 
and  in  traveling  was  his  close  companion  in  the 
box  car.  If  we  took  the  dog  to  drive  with  us,  he 
had  to  be  in  the  buggy,  as  our  time  otherwise 
would  have  been  constantly  engaged  in  dragging 
him  off  from  any  dog  that  strutted  around  him, 
and  needed  a  lesson  in  humility.  When  Turk 
was  returned  to  Phil,  after  any  separation,  they 
greeted  each  other  in  a  most  human  way.  Turk 
leaped  around  the  colt,  and  in  turn  was  rubbed 
and  nosed  about  with  speaking  little  snorts  of 
welcome.  When  we  came  home  to  this  ugly 
duckling,  he  usually  made  a  spring  and  landed  in 
my  lap,  as  if  he  were  the  tiniest,  silkiest  little  Skye 
in  dogdom.  He  half  closed  his  eyes,  with  that 
beatific  expression  peculiar  to  affectionate  dogs, 
and  did  his  little  smile  at  my  husband  and  me  by 
raising  what  there  was  of  his  upper  lip  and  show- 
ing his  front  teeth.  All  this  with  an  ignoring  of 
the  other  dogs  and  an  air  of  exclusion,  as  if  we 


->->6  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

oo 

three — his   master,    mistress,   and    himself — com- 
posed all  there  was  of  earth  worth  knowing. 

We  had  two  servants,  one  being  Eliza,  our 
faithful  colored  woman,  who  had  been  with  us  in 
Virginia  and  Texas,  and  had  come  home  with  me 
to  care  for  my  father  in  his  last  illness.  We  had 
also  a  worthless  colored  boy,  who  had  been 
trained  as  a  jockey  in  Texas  and  had  returned 
with  the  horses.  What  intellect  he  had  was  em- 
ployed in  devising  schemes  to  escape  work. 
Eliza  used  her  utmost  persuasive  eloquence  on 
him  without  effect,  and  failed  equally  with  a  set 
of  invectives,  that  hacl  been  known  heretofore  to 
break  the  most  stubborn  case  of  lethargy.  My 
tender-hearted  mother  Custer  screened  him,  for 
he  had  soon  discovered  her  amazing  credulity,  and 
had  made  out  a  story  of  abuses  to  which  he  had 
beeri  subjected  that  moved  her  to  confide  his 
wrongs  to  me.  Two  years  before,  I  too  would 
have  dropped  a  tear  over  his  history  ;  but  a  life 
among  horses  had  enlightened  me  somewhat. 
Every  one  knows  that  a  negro  will  do  almost 
anything  to  become  a  jockey.  Their  bitterest 
moment  is  when  they  find  that  growing  bone  and 
muscle  is  making  avoirdupois  and  going  to  cut 
them  off  from  all  that  makes  life  worth  living. 
To  reduce  their  weight,  so  they  can  ride  at  races, 
they  are  steamed,  and  parboiled  if  necessary. 


A   WOMAN^S  CREDULITY.  337 

This  process  our  lazy  servant  described  to  our 
mother  as  having  been  enforced  on  him  as  a  tor- 
ture and  punishment,  and  such  a  good  story  did 
he  make  out,  that  he  did  nothing  but  lie  in  the 
sun  and  twang  an  old  banjo  all  summer  long,  all 
owing  to  mother's  pity.  We  had  to  take  him 
with  us,  to  save  her  from  waiting  on  him,  and 
making  reparation  for  what  she  supposed  had 
been  a  life  of  abuse  before  he  came  to  us. 

Last  of  all  to  describe  in  our  party  was  Diana, 
the  pretty  belle  of  Monroe.  The  excitement  of 
anticipation  gave  added  brightness  to  her  eyes, 
and  the  head,  sunning  over  with  a  hundred  curls, 
danced  and  coquetted  as  she  talked  of  our  future 
among  the  "  brass  buttons  and  epaulets." 

My  going  out  from  home  was  not  so  hard  as  it 
had  been,  for  the  dear  father  had  gone  home, 
saying  in  his  last  words,  "  Daughter,  continue  to 
do  as  you  have  done;  follow  Armstrong  every- 
where." It  had  indeed  been  a  temptation  to  me, 
to  use  all  my  influence  to  induce  my  husband  to 
resign  and  accept  the  places  held  out  to  him.  I 
do  not  recollect  that  ambition  or  a  far  look  into 
his  progress  in  the  future  entered  my  mind.  I 
can  only  remember  thinking  with  envy  of  men 
surrounding  us  in  civil  life,  who  came  home  to 
their  wives  after  every  day's  business.  Even 
now,  I  look  upon  a  laborer  returning  to  his  home 


338  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

at  night  with  his  tin  dinner-pail  as  a  creature 
to  be  envied,  and  my  imagination  follows,  the 
husband  into  his  humble  house.  The  wife  to 
whom  he  returns  may  have  lost  much  that  ambi- 
tion and  success  bring,  but  she  has  secured  for 
herself  a  lifetime  of  happy  twilights,  when  all 
she  cares  for  is  safe  under  her  affectionate  eyes. 

Our  father  and  mother  Custer  lived  near  us, 
and  Sister  Margaret  and  the  younger  brother 
"  Bos,"  were  then  at  home  and  in  school.  The 
parting  with  his  mother,  the  only  sad  hour  to 
my  blithe  husband,  tore  his  heart  as  it  always 
did,  and  he  argued  in  vain  with  her,  that,  as  he 
had  come  home  after  five  years  of  incessant  bat- 
tles, she  might  look  for  his  safe  return  again. 
Each  time  seemed  to  be  the  last  to  her,  for  she  was 
so  delicate  she  hardly  expected  to  live  to  see  him 
again. 

The  summer  has  been  one  of  such  pleasure  to 
her.  Her  beloved  boy,  dashing  in  and  out  in  his 
restless  manner, was  never  too  absorbed  with  what- 
ever took  up  his  active  mind,  to  be  anything  but 
gentle  and  thoughtful  for  her.  She  found  our 
Eliza  a  mine  of  information,  and  just  as  willing  as 
mother  herself  to  talk  all  day  about  the  one  topic 
in  common,  the  General  and  his  war  experiences. 

Then  the  dogs  and  horses,  and  the  stir  and  life 
produced  by  the  introduction  of  ourselves  and  our 


A  DANGER  ESCAPED. 

belongings  into  her  quiet  existence,  made  her  re- 
call the  old  farm  life  when  her  brood  of  children 
were  all  around  her.  Brother  Tom  had  spent  the 
summer  skipping  from  flower  to  flower,  tasting 
the  sweets  of  all  the  rose-bud  garden  of  girls  in 
our  pretty  town.  I  had  already  taken  to  myself 
a  good  deal  of  the  mothering  of  this  wild  boy, 
and  began  to  worry,  as  is  the  custom  of  mothers, 
over  the  advances  of  a  venturesome  woman  who 
was  no  longer  young  and  playing  for  high  stakes. 
It  was  no  small  matter  to  me,  as  I  knew  Tom 
would  live  with  us  always,  if  he  could  manage  to 
do  so,  and  my  prospective  sister-in-law  would  be 
my  nearest  companion.  Lad  as  he  was,  he 
escaped,  and  preserved  his  heart  in  an  unbroken 
condition  during  the  summer.  Much  to  our  re- 
gret, he  was  appointed  to  a  lieutenancy  in  a  regi- 
ment stationed  South,  after  he  was  mustered  out 
of  the  volunteer  service  ;  but  the  General  suc- 
ceeded in  effecting  his  transfer  to  the  Seventh  Cav- 
alry, and  after  a  short  service  in  the  South  he  joined 
us  at  Fort  Riley  that  year. 

One  of  our  Detroit  friends  invited  us  to  go  with 
a  party  of  pretty  women,  in  a  special  car,  to  St. 
Louis  ;  so  we  had  a  gay  send-off  for  our  new 
home.  I  don't  remember  to  have  had  an  anxiety 
as  to  the  future  ;  I  was  wholly  given  over  to  the 
joy  of  realizing  that  the  war  was  over,  and,  girl- 


340 


TEN-TING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 


like,  now  the  one  great  danger  was  passed,  I  felt  as 
if  all  that  sort  of  life  was  forever  ended.  At  any 
rate,  the  magnetic  influence  of  my  husband's  joy- 
ous temperament,  which  would  not  look  on  the 
dark  side,  had  such  power  over  those  around  him 
that  I  was  impelled  to  look  upon  our  future  as  he 
did.  In  St.  Louis  we  had  a  round  of  gayety. 
The  great  Fair  was  then  at  its  best,  for  everyone 
was  making  haste  to  dispel  the  gloom  that  our 
terrible  war  had  cast  over  the  land.  There  was 
not  a  corner  of  the  Fair-ground  to  which  my  hus- 
band did  not  penetrate.  He  took  me  into  all  sorts 
of  places  to  which  our  pretty  galaxy  of  belles, 
with  their  new  conquests  of  St.  Louis  beaux,  had 
no  interest  in  going — the  stalls  of  the  thorough- 
bred horses,  when  a  chat  with  the  jockeys  was  in- 
cluded ;  the  cattle,  costing  per  head  what,  we 
whispered  to  each  other,  would  set  us  up  in  a 
handsome  income  for  life  and  buy  a  Blue-grass 
farm  with  blooded  horses,  etc.,  which  was  my 
husband's  ideal  home.  And  yet  I  do  not  remem- 
ber that  money  ever  dwelt  very  long  in  our  minds, 
we  learned  to  have  such  a  royal  time  on  so 
little. 

There  was  something  that  always  came  before 
the  Kentucky  farm  with  its  thoroughbreds.  If 
ever  he  said,  "  If  I  get  rich,  I'll  tell  you  what  I'll 
do,"  I  knew  as  well  before  he  spoke  just  what  was 


AT  THE  FAIR-GROUNDS. 


341 


to  follow.  In  all  the  twelve  years  he  never  al- 
tered the  first  plan — "  I'll  buy  a  home  Jor  father 
and  mother."  They  owned  their  home  in  Monroe 
then,  but  it  was  not  good  enough  to  please  him  ; 
nothing  was  good  enough  for  his  mother,  but 
the  dear  woman,  with  her  simple  tastes,  would 
have  felt  far  from  contented  in  the  sort  of  home 
in  which  her  son  longed  to  place  her.  All  she 
asked  was  to  gather  her  boys  around  her,  so  that 
she  could  see  them  every  day. 

As  we  wandered  round  the  Fair-grounds,  side- 
shows with  their  monstrosities  came  into  the 
General's  programme,  and  the  prize  pigs  were 
never  neglected.  If  we  bent  over  the  pens  to  see 
the  huge  things  rolling  in  lazy  contentment,  my 
husband  went  back  to  his  farm  days,  and  explained 
what  taught  him  to  like  swine,  in  which,  I  admit, 
I  could  not  be  especially  interested.  His  father 
had  given  each  son  a  pig,  with  the  promise  exacted 
in  return  that  they  should  be  daily  washed  and 
combed.  When  the  General  described  the  pink 
and  white  collection  of  pets  that  his  father  dis- 
tributed among  his  sons,  swine  were  no  longer 
swine  to  me,  they  were  "  curled  darlings,"  as  he 
pictured  them.  And  now  I  recall,  that  long  after 
he  showed  such  true  appreciation  of  his  friend's 
stock  on  one  of  the  Blue-grass  farms  in  Kentucky, 
where  we  visited,  two  pigs  of  royal  birth, 


342 


TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 


whose  ancestors  dated  back  many  generations, 
were  givegi  to  us,  and  we  sent  them  home  to  our 
farmer  brother  to  keep  until  we  should  possess  a 
place  of  our  own,  which  was  one  of  the  mild 
indulgences  of  our  imagination,  and  which  we 
hoped  would  be  the  diversion  of  our  old  age.  I 
think  it  rather  strange  that  my  husband  looked  so 
fearlessly  into  the  future.  I  hardly  know  how 
one  so  active  could  so  calmly  contemplate  the 
days  when  his  steps  would  be  slow.  We  never 
passed  on  the  street  an  old  man  with  gray  curls 
lying  over  his  coat-collar,  but  the  General  slack- 
ened his  steps  to  say  in  a  whisper,  "  There,  Libbie, 
that's  me,  forty  years  from  now."  And  if  there 
happened  to  be  John  Anderson's  obese  old  wife 
by  him  toddling  painfully  along,  red  and  out  of 
breath,  he  teasingly  added,  "  And  that's  what  you 
would  like  to  be."  It  was  a  never-ending  source 
of  argument,  that  I  would  be  much  more  success- 
ful in  the  way  of  looks  if  I  were  not  so  slender  ; 
and  as  my  husband,  even  when  a  lad,  liked  women 
who  were  slenderly  formed,  he  loved  to  torment 
me,  by  pointing  out  to  what  awful  proportions  a 
woman  weighing  what  was  to  me  a  requisite  num- 
ber of  pounds  sometimes  arrived  in  old  age. 

A  tournament  was  given  in  the  great  amphi- 
theatre of  the  Fair  building  in  St.  Louis,  which 
was  simply  delightful  to  us.  The  horsemanship 


KNIGHT.  ERRANTR  Y. 


343 


so  pleased  my  husband  that  he  longed  to  bound 
down  into  the  arena,  take  a  horse,  and  tilt  with 
their  long  lances  at  the  rings.  Some  of  the  Con- 
federate officers  rode  for  the  prizes,  and  their 
knights'  costume  and  good  horses  were  objects  of 
momentary  envy,  as  they  recalled  the  riding 
academy  exercises  at  West  Point.  Finally,  the 
pretty  ceremony  of  crowning  the  Queen  of  Love 
and  Beauty,  by  the  successful  knight,  ended  a  real 
gala  day  to  us.  At  night  a  ball  at  the  hotel  gave 
us  an  opportunity  to  be  introduced  to  the  beauti- 
ful woman,  who  sat  on  a  temporary  throne  in  the 
dancing-hall,  and  we  thought  her  well  worth  tilt- 
ing lances  for,  and  that  nothing  could  encourage 
good  horsemanship  like  giving  as  a  prize  the  tem- 
porary possession  of  a  pretty  girl. 

While  in  St.  Louis,  we  heard  Mr.  Lawrence 
Barrett  for  the  first  time.  He  was  of  nearly  the 
same  age  as  my  husband,  and  after  three  years 
soldiering  in  our  war,  as  a  captain  in  the  Twenty- 
eighth  Massachusetts  Infantry,  had  returned  to  his 
profession,  full  of  ambition  and  the  sort  of  "go" 
that  called  out  instant  recognition  from  the 
General. 

Mr.  Barrett,  in  recalling  lately  the  first  time  he 
met  General  Custer,  spoke  of  the  embarrassing 
predicament  in  which  he  was  placed  by  the 
impetuous  determination  of  one  whom  from  that 


344 


TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 


hour  he  cherished  as  his  warmest  friend.  He 
was  playing  "  Rosedale,"  and  my  husband  was 
charmed  with  his  rendering  of  the  hero's  part. 
He  recalled  for  years  the  delicate  manner  with 
which  the  lover  allows  his  wounded  hand  to  be 
bound,  and  the  subtle  cunning  with  which  he 
keeps  the  fair  minister  of  his  hurts  winding  and 
unwinding  the  bandages.  Then  Mr.  Barrett  sang 
a  song  in  the  play,  which  the  General  hummed 
for  years  afterward.  I  remember  his  going  pell- 
mell  into  the  subject  whenever  we  met,  even 
when  Mr.  Barrett  was  justifiably  glowing  with 
pride  over  his  success  in  the  legitimate  drama, 
and  interrupting  him  to  ask  why  he  no  longer 
played  "  Rosedale."  The  invariable  answer,  that 
the  play  required  extreme  youth  in  the  hero,  had 
no  sort  of  power  to  stop  the  continued  demand 
for  his  favorite  melodrama.  After  we  had  seen 
the  play — it  was  then  acted  for  the  first  time — the 
General  begged  me  to  wait  in  the  lobby  until  he 
had  sought  out  Mr.  Barrett  to  thank  him,  and  on 
our  return  from  theatre  we  lay  in  wait,  knowing 
that  he  stopped  at  our  hotel.  As  he  was  go- 
ing quietly  to  his  room — reserved  even  then, 
boy  that  he  was,  with  not  a  trace  of  the  impetuous, 
ardent  lover  he  had  so  lately  represented  before 
the  footlights — off  raced  the  General  up  the  stairs, 
two  steps  at  a  time,  to  capture  him.  He  de- 


RAID  ON  AN  ACTOR.  345 

murred,  saying  his  rough  traveling  suit  of  gray 
was  hardly  presentable  in  a  drawing-room,  but 
the  General  persisted,  saying,  "  The  old  lady  told 
me  I  must  seize  you,  and  go  you  must,  for  I  don't 
propose  to  return  without  fulfilling  her  orders. " 
Mr.  Barrett  submitted,  and  was  presented  to  our 
party,  who  had  accompanied  us  on  the  special 
car  to  St.  Louis.  The  gray  clothes  were  forgotten 
in  a  moment,  in  the  reception  we  gave  him  ;  but 
music  came  out  from  the  dining-room  and  all 
rose  to  go,  as  Mr.  Barrett  supposed,  to  our  rooms. 
The  General  took  a  lady  on  his  arm,  1,  at  my 
husband's  suggestion,  put  my  hand  on  Mr.  Bar- 
rett's arm,  and  before  he  had  realized  it,  he  was 
being  marched  into  the  brilliantly  lighted  ball- 
room, and  bowing  from  force  of  capture  before 
the  dais  on  which  sat  the  Queen  of  Love  and 
Beauty. 

All  this  delighted  the  General.  Unconven- 
tional himself,  he  nothing  heeded  the  chagrin  of 
Mr.  Barrett  over  his  inappropriate  garb,  and 
chuckled  like  a  schoolboy  over  his  successful  raid. 
I  think  Mr.  Barrett  was  not  released  until  he 
pleaded  the  necessity  for  time  to  work.  He  was 
then  reading  and  studying  far  into  the  night,  to 
make  up  for  the  lapse  in  his  profession  that  his 
army  life  had  caused.  He  was  not  so  absorbed 
in  his  literary  pursuits,  however,  that  he  did  not 


346  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

take  in  the  charm  of  those  beautiful  St.  Louis 
girls,  and  we  three,  in  many  a  jolly  evening- since, 
have  gone  back  to  the  beauty  of  the  bewitching 
belles,  as  they  floated  by  us  in  that  ballroom  or 
paused  to  capture  the  new  Richmonds  on  their 
already  crowded  field.  Mr.  Barrett  even  remem- 
bers that  the  Queen  of  Love  and  Beauty  vouch- 
safed him  the  eighth  of  a  dance,  for  her  royal 
highness  dispensed  favors  by  piece-meal  to  the 
waiting  throng  about  her  throne. 

Our  roving  life  brought  us  in  contact  with 
actors  frequently.  If  the  General  found  that  Mr. 
Barrett  was  to  play  in  any  accessible  city,  he 
hurried  me  into  my  traveling-gown,  flung  his 
own  dress-coat  and  my  best  bonnet  in  a  crumpled 
mass  into  a  little  trunk,  and  off  we  started  in  per- 
suit.  It  is  hard  to  speak  fittingly  of  the  meeting 
of  those  two  men.  They  joyed  in  each  other  as 
women  do,  and  I  tried  not  to  look  when  they 
met  or  parted,  while  they  gazed  with  tears  into 
each  other's  eyes  and  held  hands  like  exuberant 
girls.  Each  kept  track  of  the  other's  movements, 
through  the  papers,  and  rejoiced  at  every  success, 
while  Mr.  Barrett,  with  the  voice  my  husband 
thought  perfect  in  intonation  and  expression, 
always  called  to  him  the  moment  they  met,  "  Well, 
old  fellow,  hard  at  work  making  history,  are  you  ?" 

A  few  evenings   since  I    chanced   to   see   Mr. 


DECLINING  ARMOR. 


347 


Barrett's  dresser,  the  Irish  "  Garry,"  who  had 
charge  of  his  costumes  in  those  days  when  the 
General  used  to  haunt  the  dressing-room  in  the 
last  winter  we  were  together  in  New  York.  As 
Cassius  he  entered  the  room  in  armor,  and  found 
his  "  old  man  Custer  "  waiting  for  him.  Garry 
tells  me  that  my  husband  leaped  toward  the 
mailed  and  helmeted  soldier,  and  gave  him  some 
rousing  bangs  on  the  corsleted  chest,  for  they 
sparred  like  boys.  Mr.  Barrett,  parrying  the 
thrust,  said,  "  Custer,  old  man,  you  ought  to  have 
one  of  these  suits  of  armor  for  your  work."  "  Ye 
gods,  no !"  said  the  General,  in  mimic  alarm ; 
"  with  that  glistening  breast-plate  as  a  target, 
every  arrow  would  be  directed  at  me.  I'd  rather 
go  naked  than  in  that !" 


N        E      B      R    A   5      K    AV 


KANSAS  IN  1866  AND  KANSAS  TO-DAY. 

In  1866  there  were  three  hundred  miles  of  railroad ;  in  1886,  six  thousand 

one  hundred  and  forty -four, 

348 


CHAPTER  XII. 

GOOD-BY      TO     CIVILIZATION WESTWARD      HO  ! — THE 

PRAIRIE-SCHOONER  AS  WE  FIRST    SAW    IT A  FEW 

COMMENTS  ON  THE  WISDOM  OF    THE    ARMY    MULE 

THE     WAGON-MASTER    AND    MULE-WHACKER    AS 

TYPES     OF      WESTERN      ECCENTRICITY CARRYING 

SUPPLIES     TO    DISTANT    POSTS FIRST    OVERLAND 

JOURNEY  IN  AN  ARMY    AMBULANCE ARRIVAL    AT 

FORT  RILEY BORDER  WARFARE  BETWEEN  QUAR- 
RELSOME DOGS THE  HOSPITALITY  OF  OFFICERS 

AND    THEIR    FAMILIES WELCOMED    AND    HOUSED 

BY     ONE    OF    GENERAL    CUSTER's    OLD    FRIENDS 

CHANGING     OF     QUARTERS     ACCORDING     TO    ARMY 

REGULATIONS PREPARING     A      NEW-COMER      FOR 

HIS  CALL  ON  THE  COMMANDING  OFFICER'S  FAMILY 

THE  NEW  ARRIVAL  PRESENTS  HIMSELF  IN  VERY 

FULL  DRESS DIANA'S  HORSE  TELLS  TALES GEN- 
ERAL CUSTER  TAKES  HIS  DOGS  AND  GIVES  RUN  TO 
HIS  HORSE  OVER  THE  PLAINS HIS  HORSES  COM- 
MUNE WITH  HIM  AFTER  THEIR  DUMB  FASHION 

THE  STRENGTH  OF  HIS  ARM  RESERVED  FOR 
THE  COUNTRY  SEPARATED  FROM  THE  POST  BY 
THE  PRAIRIE  DIVIDES — WE  TRADE  HORSES 

PHIL     SHERIDAN     TESTED      ON      A     RACE-TRACK 

FIGHTING       DISSIPATION       IN       THE       SEVENTH 

CAVALRY GENERAL      CUSTER's      TEMPTATIONS 

340 


35O  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

THE  FAMILY  TEACH  HIM  TO  APPRECIATE  HIS  SUN- 
BURNED NOSE MEN  WHO  COMMAND  THE  ADMI- 
RATION OF  WOMEN THE  INDESTRUCTIBILITY  OF 

AN  ARMY  DEMIJOHN. 


HTHE  junketing  and  frolic  at  St.  Louis  came  to 
an  end  in  a  few  days,  and  our  faces  were 
again  turned  westward  to  a  life  about  as  different 
from  the  glitter  and  show  of  the  gay  city  in  a  holi- 
day week  as  can  be  imagined.  Leavenworth  was 
our  first  halt,  and  its  well-built  streets  and  excellent 
stores  surprised  us.  It  had  long  been  the  outfit- 
ting place  for  our  officers.  The  soldiers  drew 
supplies  from  the  military  post,  and  the  officers 
furnished  themselves  with  camp  equipage  from 
the  city.  Here  also  they  bought  condemned 
ambulances,  and  put  them  in  order  for  traveling- 
carriages  for  their  families.  I  remember  getting 
a  faint  glimmer  of  the  climate  we  were  about  to 
endure,  by  seeing  a  wagon  floored,  and  its  sides 
lined  with  canvas,  which  was  stuffed  to  keep  out 
the  cold,  while  a  little  sheet-iron  stove  was  firmly 
fixed  at  one  end,  with  a  bit  of  miniature  pipe  pro- 
truding through  the  roof.  The  journey  from 
Fort  Leavenworth  to  Santa  Fe,  New  Mexico,  then 
took  six  weeks.  Everything  was  transported  in 
the  great  army  wagons  called  prairie-schooners. 
These  were  well  named,  as  the  two  ends  of  the 


352  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

wagon  inclined  upward,  like  the  bow  and  stern  of 
a  fore -and -after.  It  is  hard  to  realize  how 
strangely  a  long  train  of  supplies  for  one  of  the 
distant  posts  looked,  as  it  wound  slowly  over  the 
plains.  The  blue  wagon-beds,  with  white  canvas 
covers  rising  up  ever  so  high,  disclosed,  in  the 
small  circle  where  they  were  drawn  together  at  the 
back,  all  kinds  of  material  for  the  clothing  and 
feeding  of  the  army  in  the  distant  Territories. 
The  number  of  mules  to  a  wagon  varies  ;  some- 
times there  are  four,  and  again  six.  The  driver 
rides  the  near-wheel  mule.  He  holds  in  his  hand 
a  broad  piece  of  leather,  an  inch  and  a  half  in 
width,  which  divides  over  the  shoulders  of  the 
lead  or  pilot  mule,  and  fastens  to  the  bit  on  either 
side  of  his  mouth.  The  leaders  are  widely  sepa- 
rated. A  small  hickory  stick,  about  five  feet 
long,  called  the  jockey-stick,  not  unlike  a  rake- 
handle,  is  stretched  between  a  pilot  and  his  mate. 
This  has  a  little  chain  at  either  end,  and  is  at- 
tached by  a  snap  or  hook  to  the  bit  of  the  other 
leader. 

When  the  driver  gives  one  pull  on  the  heavy 
strap,  the  pilot  mule  veers  to  the  left,  and  pulls 
his  mate.  Two  quick,  sudden  jerks  mean  to  the 
right,  and  he  responds,  and  pushes  his  companion 
accordingly  ;  and  in  this  simple  manner  the  ponder- 
ous vehicle  and  all  the  six  animals  are  guided.  .  . 


GOVERNMENT  MULES. 


353 


The  most  spirited  mules  are  selected  from  the  train 
for  leaders.  They  cannot  be  reached  by  the  whip, 
and  the  driver  must  rely  upon  the  emphasis  he  puts 
into  his  voice  to  incite  them  to  effort.  They  know 
their  names,  and  I  have  seen  them  respond  to  a 
call,  even  when  not  accompanied  by  the  expletives 
that  seem  to  be  composed  especially  for  this  branch 
of  charioteering.  The  driver  of  our  mules  natur- 
ally suppressed  his  invectives  in  my  presence.  The 
most  profane  soldier  holds  his  tongue  in  a  vise 
when  he  is  in  the  presence  of  a  woman,  but  he  is 
sorely  put  to  it,  to  find  a  substitute  for  the  only 
language  he  considers  a  mule  will  heed.  I  have 
seen  our  driver  shake  his  head,  and  move  his  jaws 
in  an  ominous  manner,  when  the  provoking 
leaders  took  a  skittish  leap  on  one  side  of  the  trail, 
or  turned  round  and  faced  him  with  a  protest 
against  further  progress.  They  were  sometimes 
so  afraid  of  buffalo,  and  always  of  Indians,  they 
became  rebellious  to  such  a  degree  he  was  at  his 
wits'  end  to  get  any  further  go  out  of  them.  It  was 
in  vain  he  called  out,  "  You  Bet,  there  !  "  "What 
you  about,  Sal  ? "  He  plainly  showed  and  said 
that  he  found  "such  ere  tongue-lashing  wouldn't 
work  worth  a  rap  with  them  vicious  creeturs." 

The  driver,  if  he  is  not  a  stolid  Mexican,  takes 
much  pride  in  his  mules.  By  some  unknown 
means,  poor  as  he  is,  he  possesses  himself  of  fox 


154 


TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 


or  small  coyote  tails,  which  he  fastens  to  their 
bridle,  and  the  vagaries  in  the  clipping  of  the 
poor  beast's  tails  would  set  the  fashion  to  a  Paris 
hair-dresser.  They  are  shaved  a  certain  distance, 
and  then  a  tuft  is  left/making  a  bushy  ring.  This 
is  done  twice,  if  Bet  or  Sal  is  vouchsafed  an  append- 
age long  enough  to  admit  of  it ;  while  the  tuft  on 
the  end,  though  of  little  use  to  intimidate  flies,  is 
a  marvel  of  mule-dudism.  The  coats  of  the  beasts, 
so  valued  sometimes,  shine  like  the  fine  hair  of  a 
good  horse.  Alas  !  not  when,  in  the  final  stages 
of  a  long  march,  the  jaded,  half-starved  beasts 
dragged  themselves  over  the  trail.  Driver  and 
lead  mules  even,  lose  ambition  under  the  scorching 
sun,  and  with  the  insufficient  food  and  long  water- 
famines. 

The  old  reliability  of  a  mule-team  is  the  off- 
wheeler.  It  is  his  leathery  sides  that  can  be  most 
readily  reached  by  the  whip  called  a  "  black- 
snake,"  and  when  the  descent  is  made  into  a 
stream  with  muddy  bed,  the  cut  is  given  to  this 
faithful  beast,  and  on  his  powerful  muscles  depends 
the  wrench  that  jerks  the  old  schooner  out  of  a 
slough.  The  nigh  or  saddle  mule  does  his  part 
in  such  an  emergency,  but  he  soon  reasons  that, 
because  he  carries  the  driver,  not  much  more  is 
expected  of  him. 

The  General  and  I  took  great  interest  in  the 


SIGNIFICANT  NAMES. 


355 


names  given  to  the  animals  that  pulled  our  trav- 
eling-wagon or  hauled  the  supplies.  As  we  rode 
by,  the  voice  of  the  driver  bringing  out  the  name 
he  had  chosen,  and  sometimes  affectionately,  made 
us  sure  that  the  woman  for  whom  the  beast  was 
christened  was  the  sweetheart  of  the  apparently 
prosaic  teamster.  I  was  avowedly  romantic,  and 
the  General  was  equally  so,  though,  after  the 
fashion  of  men,  he  did  not  proclaim  it.  Our  place 
at  the  head  of  the  column  was  sometimes  vacant, 
either  because  we  delayed  for  our  luncheon,  or 
because  my  husband  remained  behind  to  help  the 
quartermaster  or  the  head  teamster  get  the  train 
over  a  stream.  It  was  then  that  we  had  the  ad- 
vantage of  hearing  the  names  conferred  on  the 
mules.  They  took  in  a  wide  range  of  female 
nomenclature,  and  we  found  it  great  fun  to  watch 
the  family  life  of  one  human  being  and  his  six 
beasts.  My  husband  had  the  utmost  respect  for 
a  mule's  sense.  When  I  looked  upon  them  as 
dull,  half-alive  animals,  he  bade  me  watch  how 
deceitful  were  appearances,  as  they  showed  such 
cunning,  and  evinced  the  wisdom  of  a  quick-witted 
thoroughbred,  when  apparently  they  were  unob- 
serving,  sleepy  brutes.  It  was  the  General  who 
made  me  notice  the  skill  and  rapidity  with  which 
a  group  of  six  mules  would  straighten  out  what 
seemed  to  be  a  hopeless  tangle  of  chains  and  har- 


356  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

ness,  into  which  they  had  kicked  themselves  when 
there  was  a  disturbance  among  them.  One  crack 
of  the  whip  from  the  driver  who  had  tethered 
them  after  a  march,  accompanied  by  a  plain  state- 
ment of  his  opinion  of  such  "  fools,"  would  send 
the  whole  collection  wide  apart,  and  it  was  but  a 
twinkling  before  they  extricated  themselves  from 
what  I  thought  a  hopeless  mess.  No  chains  or 
straps  were  broken,  and  a  meek,  subdued  look 
pervading  the  group,  left  not  a  trace  of  the  active 
heels  that  a  moment  before  had  filled  the  air. 
" There,"  the  General  used  to  say,  "don't  ever 
flatter  yourself  again  that  a  mule  hasn't  sense. 
He's  got  more  wisdom  than  half  the  horses  in  the 
line."  It  took  a  good  while  to  convince  me,  as  a 
more  loggy  looking  animal  can  hardly  be  found 
than  the  army  mule,  which  never  in  his  existence 
is  expected  to  go  off  from  a  walk,  or  to  vary  his 
life,  from  the  day  he  is  first  harnessed,  until  he 
drops  by  the  way,  old  or  exhausted. 

At  the  time  we  were  first  on  the  Plains,  many 
of  the  teamsters  were  Mexicans,  short,  swarthy, 
dull,  and  hardly  a  grade  above  the  animal.  The 
only  ambition  of  these  creatures  seemed  to  be  to 
vie  with  one  another  as  to  who  could  snap  the 
huge  "black-snake"  the  loudest.  They  learned 
to  whisk  the  thong  at  the  end  around  the  ears  of 
a  shirking  off  leader,  and  crack  the  lash  with  such 


THE  PRAIRIE-SCHOONER  SUPPLANTED. 

an  explosive  sound  that  I  never  got  over  jumping 
in  my  whole  Plains  life.  I  am  sorry  to  say  my 
high-strung  horse  usually  responded  with  a  spring 
that  sent  me  into  thin  air  anywhere  between  his 
ears  and  his  tail,  with  a  good  deal  of  uncertainty 
as  to  where  I  should  alight.  I  suspect  it  was  an 
innocent  little  amusement  of  the  drivers,  when 
occasionally  we  remained  behind  at  nooning,  and 
had  to  ride  swiftly  by  the  long  train  to  reach  the 
head  of  the  column. 

The  prairie-schooner  disappeared  with  the  ad- 
vancing railroad  ;  but  I  am  glad  to  see  that 
General  Meigs  has  perpetuated  its  memory,  by 
causing  this  old  means  of  transportation  to  be 
made  one  of  the  designs  in  the  beautiful  frieze 
carved  around  the  outside  of  the  Pension  Office 
at  Washington.  Ungainly  and  cumbersome  as 
these  wagons  were,  they  merit  some  such  monu- 
ment, as  part  of  the  history  of  the  early  days  of 
frontier  life  in  our  country.  We  were  in  the 
West  several  years  before  the  railroad  was  com- 
pleted to  Denver,  and  the  overland  trains  became 
an  every-day  sight  to  us.  Citizens  used  oxen  a 
great  deal  for  transportation,  and  there  is  no 
picture  that  represents  the  weariness  and  laggard 
progress  of  life  like  an  ox-train  bound  for  Santa 
Fe  or  Denver.  The  prairie-schooner  might  set 
out  freshly  painted,  or  perhaps  washed  in  a  creek, 


358  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

but  it  soon  became  gray  with  layer  upon  layer  of 
alkali  dust.  The  oxen — well,  nothing  save  a  snail 
can  move  more  slowly — and  the  exhaustion  of 
these  beasts,  after  weeks  of  uninterrupted  travel, 
was  pitiful.  Imagine,  also,  the  unending  vigil  when 
the  trains  were  insecurely  guarded  ;  for  in  those 
days  there  was  an  immense  unprotected  frontier, 
and  seemingly  only  a  handful  of  cavalry.  The 
regiments  looked  well  on  the  roster,  but  there 
were  in  reality  but  few  men.  A  regiment  should 
number  twelve  hundred  enlisted  men  ;  but  at  no 
time,  unless  during  the  war,  does  the  recruiting 
officer  attempt  to  fill  it  to  the  maximum  ;  seventy 
men  to  a  company  is  a  large  number.  The  de- 
sertions during  the  first  years  of  the  reorganiza- 
tion of  the  army  after  the  war  thinned  the  ranks 
constantly.  Recruits  could  not  be  sent  out  fast 
enough  to  fill  up  the  companies.  The  conse- 
quence was,  that  all  those  many  hundred  miles  of 
trail  where  the  Government  undertook  to  protect 
citizens  who  carried  supplies  to  settlements  and 
the  mines,  as  well  as  its  own  trains  of  material  for 
building  new  posts,  and  commissary  and  quarter- 
master's stores  for  troops,  were  terribly  exposed 
and  very  poorly  protected. 

"  The  Indians  were,  unfortunately,  located  on  the 
great  highway  of  Western  travel;  and  commerce, 
not  less  than  emigration,  demanded  their  removal." 


O  VERLA  ND  TRANS  FOR  TA  TlOtf. 


359 


There  are  many  conflicting  opinions  as  to  the 
course  pursued  to  clear  the  way ;  but  I  only  wish 
to  speak  now  of  the  impression  the  trains  made 
upon  me,  as  we  constantly  saw  the  long,  dusty, 
exhausted-looking  column  wending  its  serpentine 
way  over  the  sun-baked  earth.  A  group  of  cav- 
alry, with  their  drooping  horses,  rode  in  front  and 
at  the  rear.  The  wagon-master  was  usually  the 
very  quintessence  of  valor.  It  is  true  he  formed 
such  a  habit  of  shooting  that  he  grew  indiscrimi- 
nate, and  should  any  of  the  lawless  desperadoes 
whom  he  hired  as  teamsters  or  trainmen  ruffle  his 
blood,  kept  up  to  boiling-heat  by  suspense,  physi- 
cal exposure,  and  exasperating  employees,  he 
knew  no  way  of  settling  troubles  except  the 
effectual  quietus  that  a  bullet  secures.  I  well 
remember  my  husband  and  Tom,  who  dearly 
loved  to  raise  my  indignation,  and  create  signs  of 
horror  and  detestation  at  their  tales,  walking 
me  down  to  the  Government  train  to  see  a  wagon- 
master  who  had  shot  five  men.  He  had  emi- 
grated from  the  spot  where  he  bade  fair  to  establish 
a  private  cemetery  with  his  victims.  No  one 
needed  a  reason  for  his  sudden  appearance  after 
the  number  of  his  slain  was  known.  And  yet  no 
questions  were  put  as  to  his  past.  He  made  a 
capital  wagon-master ;  he  was  obedient  to  his 
superiors,  faithful,  and  on  time  every  morning, 


360  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

and  the  prestige  of  his  past  record  answered  so 
well  with  the  citizen  employees,  that  his  pistol 
remained  unused  in  the  holster. 

It  seemed  to  be  expected  that  the  train-master 
would  be  a  villain.  Whatever  was  their  record  as 
to  the  manner  of  arranging  private  disputes,  a 
braver  class  of  men  never  followed  a  trail,  and 
some  of  them  were  far  superior  to  their  chance 
lot.  Their  tender  care  of  women  who  crossed  in 
these  slow-moving  ox-trains,  to  join  their  hus- 
bands, ought  to  be  commemorated.  I  have  some- 
where read  one  of  their  remarks  when  a  girl,  going 
to  her  mother,  had  been  secreted  in  a  private 
wagon  and  there  was  no  knowledge  of  her  pres- 
ence until  the  Indians  were  discovered  to  be  near. 
"  Tain't  no  time  to  be  teamin'  women  folks  over 
the  trail,  with  sech  a  fearsom  sperit  for  Injuns  as  I 
be."  He,  like  some  of  the  bravest  men  I  have 
known,  spoke  of  himself  as  timid,  while  he  knew 
no  fear.  It  certainly  unnerved  the  most  valiant 
man  when  Indians  were  lurking  near,  to  realize 
the  fate  that  hung  over  women  entrusted  to  their 
care.  In  a  later  portion  of  my  story  occurs  an 
instance  of  an  officer  hiding  the  woman  whose 
husband  had  asked  him  to  take  her  into  the  States, 
even  before  firing  a  shot  at  the  adversary,  as  he 
knew  with  what  redoubled  ferocity  the  savage 
would  fight,  at  sight  of  the  white  face  of  a 


GRA  VES  B  Y  THE  WA  Y-SIDE.  36  j 

woman.  It  makes  the  heart  beat,  even  to  look  at 
a  picture  of  the  old  mode  of  traversing  the  high- 
way of  Western  travel.  The  sight  of  the  pictured 
train,  seemingly  so  peacefully  lumbering  on  its 
sleepy  way,  the  scarcely  revolving  wheels,  creak- 
ing out  a  protest  against  even  that  effort,  recalls 
the  agony,  the  suspense,  the  horror,  with  which 
every  inch  of  that  long  route  has  been  made.  The 
heaps  of  stones  by  the  way-side,  or  the  buffalo 
bones,  collected  to  mark  the  spot  where  some  man 
fell  from  an  Indian  arrow,  are  now  disappearing. 
The  hurricanes  beating  upon  the  hastily  prepared 
memorials  have  scattered  the  bleached  bones  of 
the  bison,  and  rolled  into  the  tufted  grass  the  few 
stones  with  which  the  train-men,  at  risk  of  their 
own  lives,  have  delayed  long  enough  to  mark  their 
comrade's  grave. 

The  faded  photographs  or  the  old  prints  of  those 
overland  trains  speak  to  me  but  one  story.  In- 
stantly I  recall  the  hourly  vigilance,  the  restless 
eyes  scanning  the  horizon,  the  breathless  suspense, 
when  the  pioneers  or  soldiers  knew  from  unmis- 
takable signs  that  the  Indian  was  lying  in  wait. 
In  what  contrast  to  the  dull,  logy,  scarcely  moving 
oxen  were  these  keen-eyed  heroes,  with  every 
nerve  strained,  every  sense  on  the  alert.  And 
how  they  were  maddened  by  the  fate  that  con- 
signed them,  at  such  moments,  to  the  mercy  of 


362  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

"  dull,  driven  cattle."  When  I  have  seen  officers 
and  soldiers  lay  their  hands  lovingly  on  the  neck 
of  their  favorite  horse,  and  perhaps,  when  no  one 
was  near  to  scoff  at  sentiment,  say  to  me,  "  He 
saved  my  life,"  I  knew  well  what  a  man  felt  when 
his  horse  took  fire  at  knowledge  of  danger  to  his 
rider  and  sped  on  the  wings  of  the  wind,  till  he  was 
lost  to  his  pursuers,  a  tiny  black  speck  on  the  hori- 
zon. The  pathos  of  a  soldier's  parting  with  his 
horse  moved  us  to  quick  sympathy.  It  often  hap- 
pens that  a  trooper  retains  the  same  animal  through 
his  entire  enlistment,  and  it  comes  to  be  his  most 
intimate  friend.  There  is  nothing  he  will  not  do 
to  provide  him  with  food  ;  if  the  forage  runs  low 
or  the  grazing  is  insufficient,  stealing  for  his  horse 
is  reckoned  a  virtue  among  soldiers.  Imagine, 
then,  the  anxiety,  the  real  suffering,  wTith  which  a 
soldier  watches  his  faithful  beast  growing  weaker 
day  by  day,  from  exhaustion  or  partial  starvation. 
He  walks  beside  him  to  spare  his  strength,  and 
finally,  when  it  is  no  longer  possible  to  keep  up 
with  the  column,  and  the  soldier  knows  how  fatal 
the  least  delay  may  be  in  an  Indian  country,  it  is 
more  pitiful  than  almost  any  sight  I  recall,  the 
sadness  of  his  departure  from  the  skeleton,  whose 
eyes  follow  his  master  in  wondering  affection, 
as  he  walks  away  with  the  saddle  and  accou- 
trements. It  is  the  most  merciful  farewell  if  a 


A  DISMOUNTED  CAVALRYMAN*.  363 

bullet  is  lodged  in  the  brain  of  the  famished  or 
exhausted  beast,  but  some  one  else  than  his  sor- 
rowing master  has  to  do  the  trying  deed. 

This  is  not  the  last  act  in  the  harrowing  scene. 
The  soldier  overtakes  the  column,  loaded  down 
with  his  saddle,  if  the  train  is  too  far  away  to  de- 
posit it  in  the  company  wagon.  Then  begins  a 
tirade  of  annoying  comments  to  this  man,  still 
grieving  over  the  parting  with  his  best  friend. 
No  one  can  conceive  what  sarcasm  and  wit  can 
proceed  from  a  column  of  cavalry.  Many  of  the 
men  are  Irish,  and  their  reputation  for  humor  is 
world-wide.  "  Hullo,  there !  joined  the  doe-boys, 
eh?"  "How  do  you  like  hoofing  it?"  are  tame 
specimens  of  the  remarks  from  these  tormenting 
tongues  ;  such  a  fusillade  of  sneers  is  followed 
not  long  after  by  perhaps  the  one  most  gibing  of 
all  flinging  himself  off  from  his  horse,  and  giving 
his  mount  to  the  one  he  has  done  his  best  to  stir 
into  wrath.  A  cavalry  man  hates,  beyond  any 
telling,  enforced  pedestrianism,  and  "  Share  and 
share  alike  "  is  a  motto  that  our  Western  soldiers 
keep  in  use. 

If  the  wagons  held  merchandise  only,  by  which 
the  pioneer  hoped  to  grow  rich,  the  risk  and  sus- 
pense attending  these  endless  marches  were  not 
worth  commemorating  ;  but  the  bulk  of  the  freight 
was  the  actual  necessities  of  life.  Conceive,  if 


364  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

you  can,  how  these  brave  men  felt  themselves 
chained,  as  they  drove  or  guarded  the  food  for 
those  living  far  in  advance.  There  were  not 
enough  to  admit  of  a  charge  on  the  enemy,  and 
the  defensive  is  an  exasperating  position  for  a 
soldier  or  frontiersman.  He  longs  to  advance  on 
the  foe ;  but  no  such  privilege  was  allowed  them, 
for  in  these  toilsome  journeys  they  had  often  to 
use  precautions  to  hide  themselves.  If  Indians 
were  discovered  to  be  roaming  near,  the  camp 
was  established,  trains  coralled,  animals  secured 
inside  a  temporary  stockade  ;  the  fires  for  coffee 
were  forbidden,  for  smoke  rises  like  a  funnel,  and 
hangs  out  an  instant  signal  in  that  clear  air.  Even 
the  consoling  pipe  was  smoked  under  a  sage-bush 
or  in  a  hollow,  if  there  happened  to  be  a  depres- 
sion of  the  ground.  Few  words  were  spoken,  the 
loud  oaths  sunk  into  low  mutterings,  and  the  bray 
of  a  hungry  mule,  the  clank  of  wagon-chains,  or 
the  stamping  of  cattle  on  the  baked  earth, 
sounded  like  thunder  in  the  ears  of  the  anxious, 
expectant  men. 

Fortunately,  our  journey  in  these  trains  was  not 
at  once  forced  upon  us  at  Leavenworth.  The 
Kansas  Pacific  Railroad,  projected  to  Denver,  was 
built  within  ten  miles  of  Fort  Riley,  and  it  was  to 
be  the  future  duty  of  the  Seventh  Cavalry,  to  guard 
the  engineers  in  building  the  remainder  of  the 


A  FRONTIER  OUTFIT.  365 

road  out  to  the  Rocky  Mountains.  It  did  not  take 
us  long  to  purchase  an  outfit  in  the  shops,  for  as 
usual  our  finances  were  low,  and  consequently 
our  wants  were  curtailed.  We  had  the  sense  to 
listen  to  a  hint  from  some  practical  officer  who 
had  been  far  beyond  railroads,  and  buy  a  cook- 
stove  the  first  thing,  and  this  proved  to  be  the 
most  important  of  our  possessions  when  we 
reached  our  post,  so  far  from  the  land  of  shops. 
Not  many  hours  after  we  left  Leavenworth,  the 
settlements  became  farther  and  farther  apart,  and 
we  began  to  realize  that  we  were  actual  pioneers ! 
Kansas  City  was  then  but  a  small  town,  seemingly 
with  a  hopeless  future,  as  the  bluffs  rose  so  steeply 
from  the  river,  and  even  when  the  summit  was 
reached,  the  ups  and  downs  of  the  streets  were 
discouraging.  It  seemed,  then,  as  if  it  would  never 
be  worth  while  to  use  it  as  a  site  for  a  town  ;  there 
would  be  a  life-time  of  grading.  It  is  very  easy 
to  become  a  city  forefather  in  such  a  town,  for  in 
the  twenty-one  years  since  then,  it  has  grown  into 
a  city  of  over  132,000  inhabitants — but  they  are 
still  grading.  The  lots  which  we  could  have  had 
almost  for  the  asking,  sell  now  for  $1,000  a  front 
foot.  Topeka,  the  capital,  showed  no  evidence 
of  its  importance,  except  the  little  circle  of  stars 
that  surrounded  it  on  our  atlas.  There  were  but 
three  towns  beyond  Fort  Riley  then,  and  those 


366  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

were  built,  if  I  may  so  express  it,  of  canvas  and 
dug-outs. 

Our  railroad  journey  came  to  an  end  about  ten 
miles  from  Fort  Riley.  The  laborers  were  laying 
track  from  that  point.  It  had  been  a  sort  of  gala 
day,  for  General  Sherman,  on  one  of  his  tours  of 
inspection  of  the  frontier  posts,  had  been  asked 
by  railroad  officials  to  drive  the  final  spike  of  the 
division  of  the  road  then  finished.  We  found  a 
wagon  waiting  for  our  luggage,  and  an  ambulance 
to  carry  us  the  rest  of  the  journey.  These 
vehicles  are  not  uncomfortable,  when  the  long 
seats  on  either  side  are  so  arranged  that  they 
make  a  bed  for  the  ill  or  wounded  by  spreading 
them  out,  but  as  traveling  conveyances  I  could 
not  call  them  a  success.  The  seats  are  narrow, 
with  no  back  to  speak  of,  and  covered  with  car- 
riage-cloth, which  can  keep  you  occupied,  if  the 
country  is  rough,  in  regaining  the  slippery  surface 
for  any  number  of  miles  at  a  stretch.  Fort  Riley 
came  in  sight  when  we  were  pretty  well  tired  out. 
It  was  my  first  view  of  a  frontier  post.  I  had 
either  been  afraid  to  confess  my  ignorance,  or  so 
assured  there  was  but  one  variety  of  fort,  and  the 
subject  needed  no  investigation,  that  Fort  Riley 
came  upon  me  as  a  great  surprise.  I  supposed,  of 
course,  it  would  be  exactly  like  Fortress  Monroe, 
with  stone  walls,  turrets  for  the  sentinels,  and  a 


THE  ROLLING  PLAINS.  367 

deep  moat.  As  I  had  heard  more  and  more  about 
Indians  since  reaching  Kansas,  a  vision  of  the  en- 
closure where  we  would  eventually  live  was  a 
great  comfort  to  me.  I  could  scarcely  believe 
that  the  buildings,  a  story  and  a  half  high,  placed 
around  a  parade  ground,  were  all  there  was  of 
Fort  Riley.  The  sutler's  store,  the  quartermaster 
and  commissary  storehouses,  and  the  stables  for 
the  cavalry  horses,  were  outside  the  square,  near 
the  post,  and  that  was  all.  No  trees,  and  hardly 
any  signs  of  vegetation  except  the  buffalo-grass 
that  curled  its  sweet  blades  close  to  the  ground, 
as  if  to  protect  the  nourishment  it  held  from  the 
blazing  sun.  The  post  was  beautifully  situated 
on  a  wide  plateau,  at  the  junction  of  the  Republi- 
can and  Smoky  Hill  rivers.  The  Plains,  as  they 
waved  away  on  all  sides  of  us  like  the  surface  of 
a  vast  ocean,  had  the  charm  of  great  novelty,  and 
the  absence  of  trees  was  at  first  forgotten,  in  the 
fascination  of  seeing  such  an  immense  stretch  of 
country,  with  the  soft  undulations  of  green  turf 
rolling  on,  seemingly,  to  the  setting  sun.  The  eye 
was  relieved  by  the  fringe  of  cotton-wood  that 
bordered  the  rivers  below  us. 

Though  we  came  afterward  to  know,  on  toil- 
some marches  under  the  sweltering  sun,  when 
that  orb  was  sometimes  not  even  hidden  for  one 
moment  in  the  day  by  a  grateful  cloud,  but  the 


368  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

sky  was  spread  over  as  a  vast  canopy  of  dazzling 
blue,  that  enthusiasm  would  not  outlast  such  trials; 
still,  a  rarely  exultant  feeling  takes  possession  of 
one  in  the  gallops  over  the  Plains,  when  in  early 
spring  they  are  a  trackless  sea  of  soft  verdure. 
And  the  enthusiasm  returns  when  the  campaign 
for  the  summer  is  over,  and  riding  is  taken  up  for 
pleasure.  My  husband  was  full  of  delight  over 
the  exquisite  haze  that  covered  the  land  with 
a  faint  purple  light,  and  exclaimed,  "Now  I 
begin  to  realize  what  all  that  transparent  veil  of 
faint  color  means  in  Bierstadt's  paintings  of  the 
Rocky  Mountains  and  the  West."  But  we  had 
little  time  to  take  in  atmospheric  effects,  as  even- 
ing was  coming  on  and  we  were  yet  to  be  housed, 
while  servants,  horses,  dogs  and  all  of  us  were 
hungry,  after  our  long  drive.  The  General  halted 
the  wagon  outside  the  post,  and  left  us,  to  go  and 
report  to  the  commanding  officer. 

At  that  time  I  knew  nothing  of  the  hospitality 
of  a  frontier  post,  and  I  begged  to  remain  in  the 
wagon  until  our  quarters  were  assigned  us  in  the 
garrison.  Up  to  this  time  we  had  all  been  in 
splendid  spirits  ;  the  novelty,  the  lovely  day  and 
exhilarating  air,  and  all  the  possibilities  of  a  future 
with  a  house  of  our  own,  or,  rather,  one  lent  to 
us  by  Uncle  Sam,  seemed  to  fill  up  a  delightful 
cup  to  the  brim.  We  sat  outside  the  post  so  long — 


TIRED  PIONEERS.  369 

at  least  it  seemed  so  to  us — and  grew  hungrier  and 
thirstier,  that  there  were  evident  signs  of  mutiny. 
The  truth  is,  whenever  the  General  was  with  us, 
with  his  determination  of  thinking  that  nothing 
could  exceed  his  surroundings,  it  was  almost  im- 
possible to  look  upon  anything  except  in  the  light 
that  he  did.  He  gave  color  to  everything,  with 
his  hopeful  views.  Eliza  sat  on  the  seat  with  the 
driver,  and  both  muttered  occasional  hungry 
words,  but  our  Diana  and  I  had  the  worst  of  it.  We 
had  bumped  over  the  country,  sometimes  violently 
jammed  against  the  framework  of  the  canvas 
cover,  and  most  of  the  time  sliding  off  from  the 
slippery  cushions  upon  the  insulted  dogs — for  of 
course  the  General  had  begged  a  place  for  two  of 
them.  He  had  kept  them  in  order  all  the  way 
from  the  termination  of  the  railroad  ;  but  now  that 
he  was  absent,  Turk  and  Byron  renewed  hostilities, 
and  in  the  narrow  space  they  scrambled  and 
snarled  and  sprang  at  each  other.  When  the 
General  came  back,  he  found  the  little  hands  of 
our  curly-headed  girl  clenched  over  the  collar  of 
Byron  at  one  end  of  the  ambulance,  while  Turk 
sat  on  my  lap,  swelling  with  rage  because  my 
fingers  were  twisted  in  the  chain  that  held  him,  as 
I  sat  at  the  door  shaking  with  terror.  It  was 
quick  work  to  jerk  the  burly  brute  out  of  the  door, 
and  end  our  troubles  for  the  time  ;  but  the  General, 


37O  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

after  quieting  our  panic,  threw  us  into  a  new  one 
by  saying  we  must  make  up  our  minds  to  be  the 
guests  of  the  commanding  officer.  Tired,  travel- 
stained,  and  unaccustomed  to  what  afterward  be- 
came comparatively  easy,  we  wrere  driven  to  one 
of  the  quarters  and  made  our  entrance  among 
strangers.  I  then  realized,  for  the  first  time,  that 
we  had  reached  a  spot  where  the  comforts  of  life 
could  not  be  had  for  love  or  money. 

It  is  a  strange  sensation  to  arrive  at  a  place 
where  money  is  of  little  use  in  providing  shelter, 
and  here  we  were  beyond  even  the  commonest 
railroad  hotel.  Mrs.  Gibbs,  who  received  us,  was 
put  to  a  severe  test  that  night.  Already  a  room 
in  her  small  house  had  been  prepared  for  General 
Sherman,  who  had  arrived  earlier  in  the  day,  and 
now  there  were  five  of  us  bearing  down  upon  her. 
I  told  her  how  I  had  begged  to  be  allowed  to  go 
into  quarters,  even  though  there  were  no  prepara- 
tions, not  even  a  fire-place  where  Eliza  could  have 
cooked  us  food  enough  over  the  coals  to  stay 
hunger ;  but  she  assured  me  that,  having  been  on 
the  Plains  before  the  war,  she  was  quite  accus- 
tomed to  a  state  of  affairs  where  there  was  nothing 
to  do  but  quarter  yourself  upon  strangers  ;  and 
then  gave  up  her  own  room  to  our  use.  From 
that  night — which  was  a  real  trial  to  me,  because  I 
felt  so  keenly  the  trouble  we  caused  them  all — 


GENUINE  HOSPITALITY.  371 

dates  the  beginning  of  a  friendship  that  has  lasted 
through  the  darkest  as  well  as  the  brightest  hours 
of  my  life.  I  used  to  try  to  remember  after- 
ward, when  for  nine  years  we  received  and  enter- 
tained strangers  who  had  nowhere  else  to  go,  the 
example  of  undisturbed  hospitality  shown  me  by 
my  first  friend  on  the  frontier. 

The  next  day  my  husband  assumed  command 
of  the  garrison,  and  our  few  effects  were  moved 
into  a  large  double  house  built  for  the  command- 
ing officer.  There  were  parlors  on  one  side,  whose 
huge  folding  doors  wrere  flung  open,  and  made  our 
few  articles  of  furniture  look  lonely  and  meagre. 
We  had  but  six  wooden  chairs  to  begin  with,  and 
when,  a  few  miles  more  of  the  railroad  being  com- 
pleted, a  party  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  excur- 
sionists arrived,  I  seated  six  of  them — yes,  seven, 
for  one  was  tired  enough  to  sit  on  a  trunk — and 
then  concluded  I  would  own  up  that  in  the  larger 
rooms  of  the  house,  into  which  they  looked  sig- 
nificantly, there  were  no  more  chairs  concealed. 
I  had  done  my  best,  and  tried  to  make  up  for  not 
seating  or  feeding  them  by  very  busy  talking. 
Meanwhile  there  were  incessant  inquiries  for  the 
General.  It  seems  that  he  had  begun  that  little 
trick  of  hiding  from  strangers,  even  then.  He 
had  seen  the  advancing  column  of  tourists,  and 
fled.  One  of  the  servants  finally  unearthed  him, 


372  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

and  after  they  had  gone  and  he  found  that  I  had 
been  so  troubled  to  think  I  could  do  nothing  for 
the  citizens,  and  so  worried  because  he  was  non 
est,  he  did  not  leave  me  in  such  strait  again  until 
I  had  learned  to  adapt  myself  to  the  customs  of 
the  country  where  the  maxim  that  "  every  man's 
house  is  his  castle  "  is  a  fallacy. 

The  officers  who  had  garrisoned  the  post  began 
to  move  out  as  our  own  Seventh  Cavalry  officers 
reported  for  duty.  The  colonel  of  the  regiment 
arrived,  and  ranked  us  out  of  our  quarters,  in  this 
instance  much  to  our  relief,  as  the  barrack  of  a 
building  would  never  fill  up  from  the  slow  rate  at 
which  our  belongings  increased.  This  army  regu- 
lation, to  which  I  have  elsewhere  referred,  was 
then  new  to  me.  The  manner  in  which  the  Gov- 
ernment sees  fit  to  arrange  quarters  is  still  amusing 
to  me,  but  I  suppose  no  better  plan  has  ever  been 
thought  out.  In  the  beginning  of  a  well-built 
post,  there  is  but  little  choice.  It  is  the  aim  to 
make  the  houses,  except  that  of  the  commanding 
officer,  exactly  alike.  From  time  to  time  new 
quarters  are  built.  The  original  plan  is  not  fol- 
lowed; possibly  a  few  improvements  are  added  to 
the  newer  houses.  Ah  !  then  the  disturbance  en- 
sues !  Fort  Vancouver,  in  Washington  Territory, 
is  one  of  the  old  posts,  quite  interesting  from  the 
heterogeneous  collection  of  quarters  added 


'RANKING  OUT. 


373 


through  fifty  years.  I  was  spending  a  day  or  two, 
in  1875,  with  my  husband's  niece,  whose  husband 
was  some  distance  down  on  the  list,  and  conse- 
quently occupied  a  low  log  building,  that  dated 
back  no  one  knows  how  far.  Even  in  that  little 
cabin  they  wrere  insecure,  for  in  reply  to  my  ques- 
tion, "  Surely  you  are  permanently  fixed,  and  won't 
be  moved,"  they  pathetically  answered:  "  Not  by 
any  means !  We  live  from  hour  to  hour  in  uncer- 
tainty, and  there  are  worse  quarters  than  these, 

which   we  walk  by  daily  with  dread,  as  

ranks  us,  and  he  is  going  to  be  married,  so  out 
we  go  ! " 

Assigning  quarters  according  to  rank  goes  on 
smoothly  for  a  time,  but  occasionally  an  officer  re- 
ports for  duty  who  ranks  everyone.  Not  long 
ago  this  happened  at  a  distant  post,  and  the  whole 
line  went  down  like  a  row  of  bricks,  as  eight 
officers'  families  were  ousted  by  his  arrival,  the 
lowest  in  rank  having  to  move  out  one  of  the  non- 
commissioned officers  who  had  lived  in  a  little 
cabin  with  two  rooms.  If  possible,  in  choosing  a 
time  to  visit  our  frontier  posts,  let  this  climax  of 
affairs  be  avoided.  Where  there  is  little  to  vary 
life  the  monotony  is  apt  to  be  deeply  stirred  by 
private  rages,  which  would  blow  away  in  smoke  if 
there  was  anything  else  to  think  of.  It  is  rather 
harrowing  to  know  that  some  one  has  an  eye  on 


3  74  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

the  home  you  have  furnished  with  your  own 
means.  I  could  hardly  blame  a  man  I  knew,  who, 
in  an  outburst  of  wrath  concerning  an  officer  who 
had  at  last  uprooted  him,  secretly  rejoiced  that  a 
small  room  that  had  been  the  object  of  envy, 
having  been  built  at  the  impoverished  post  of 
refuse  lumber  from  the  stables,  was  unendurable 
on  a  warm  day;  and  the  new  possessor  was  left  to 
find  it  out  when  he  had  settled  himself  in  the 
coveted  house. 

After  our  quarters  were  chosen  by  the  Colonel, 
we  took  another  house,  of  moderate  size,  bought 
a  few  pieces  of  furniture  of  an  officer  leaving  the 
post,  and  began  to  live  our  first  home-like  life. 
The  arrival  of  the  new  officers  was  for  a  time  our 
only  excitement.  Most  of  them  had  been  in  the 
volunteer  service,  and  knew  nothing  of  the  regular 
army.  There  was  no  one  to  play  practical  jokes 
on  the  first  comers ;  but  they  had  made  some 
ridiculous  errors  in  dress  and  deportment,  when 
reporting  at  first,  and  they  longed  to  take  out 
their  mortification  at  these  harmless  mistakes,  by 
laying  pit-falls  for  the  verdant  ones  who  were 
constantly  arriving.  The  discipline  of  the  regular 
army,  and  the  punctilious  observance  compelling 
the  wearing  of  the  uniform,  was  something  totally 
new  to  men  who  had  known  little  of  parades  in 
their  fighting  days  in  the  tented  field.  If  it  was 


375 


376  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

possible  to  intimidate  a  new  officer  by  tales  of  the 
strictness  of  the  commanding  officer  regarding  the 
personal  appearance  of  his  regiment,  they  did 
so.  One  by  one,  those  who  had  preceded  the  last 
comer  called  in  to  pay  their  compliments ;  but  by 
previous  agreement  they  one  and  all  dwelt  upon 
the  necessity  of  his  making  a  careful  toilet  before 
he  approached  the  august  presence  of  the  Lieuten- 
ant-colonel. Then  one  or  two  offered  carelessly 
to  help  him  get  himself  up  for  the  occasion.  Our 
brother  Tom  had  arrived  by  this  time,  but  there 
was  nothing  to  be  made  out  of  him,  for  he  had 
served  a  few  months  with  a  regular  regiment  be- 
fore being  transferred  to  ours.  He  was  therefore 
sent  one  day  to  prepare  me  for  the  call  of  an  officer 
who  had  been  assisted  into  his  new  uniform  by 
the  mischievous  knot  of  men  who  had  been  longest 
with  us.  If  I  had  known  to  what  test  I  was  to  be 
put  to  keep  my  face  straight,  or  had  dreamed 
what  a  gullible  creature  had  come  into  their  ro- 
guish hands,  I  would  not  have  consented  to  re- 
ceive him.  But  it  was  one  of  the  imperative  rules 
that  each  officer,  after  reporting  for  duty,  must 
pay  a  formal  visit  to  the  commanding  officer  and 
his  family.  I  went  into  the  parlor  to  find  a  large 
and  at  that  time  awkward  man,  in  full  uniform, 
which  was  undeniably  a  tight  fit  for  his  rather 
portly  figure.  He  wore  cavalry  boots,  the  first 


AN  ELABORA TE  TOILET  377 

singularity  I  noticed,  for  they  had  such  expanse  of 
top  I  could  not  help  seeing  them.  They  are  of 
course  out  of  order  with  a  dress  coat.  The  red 
sash,  which  was  then  en  rtgle  for  all  officers,  was 
spread  from  up  under  his  arms  to  as  far  below  the 
waist  line  as  its  elastic  silk  could  be  stretched. 
The  sword-belt,  with  sabre  attached,  surrounded 
this ;  and,  folded  over  the  wide  red  front,  were 
his  large  hands,  encased  in  white  cotton  gloves. 
He  never  moved  them ;  nor  did  he  move  an  eye- 
lash, so  far  as  I  could  discover,  though  it  seems  he 
was  full  of  internal  tremors,  for  the  officers  had  told 
him  on  no  account  to  remove  his  regulation  hat. 
At  this  he  demurred,  and  told  them  I  would  surely 
think  he  was  no  gentleman ;  but  they  assured  him 
I  placed  military  etiquette  far  above  any  ordinary 
rule  for  manners  in  the  presence  of  ladies,  while 
the  truth  was  I  was  rather  indifferent  as  to  military 
rules  of  dress.  As  this  poor  man  sat  there,  I  could 
think  of  nothing  but  a  child  who  is  so  carefully 
dressed  in  new  furbelows  that  it  sits  as  if  it  were 
carved  out  of  wood,  for  fear  of  disarranging  the 
finished  toilet.  Diana  made  almost  an  instant 
excuse  to  leave  the  room.  The  General's  mus- 
tache quivered,  and  he  moved  restlessly  around, 
even  coming  again  to  shake  hands  with  the  autom- 
aton and  bid  him  welcome  to  the  regiment ;  but 
finally  he  dashed  out  of  the  door  to  enjoy  the  out- 


3  78  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

burst  of  mirth  that  he  could  no  longer  control.  I 
was  thus  left  to  meet  the  situation  as  best  I  could, 
but  was  not  as  fortunate  as  the  General,  who  had 
a  friendly  mustache  to  curtain  the  quiver  in  his 
mouth.  The  .poor  victim  apparently  recalled  to 
himself  the  martial  attitude  of  Washington  cross- 
ing the  Delaware,  or  Napoleon  at  Waterloo,  and 
did  not  alter  the  first  position  he  had  assumed.  In 
trying  to  prevent  him  from  seeing  my  confusion, 
I  redoubled  my  efforts  to  entertain  him,  and  suc- 
ceeded only  too  well,  for  when  he  slowly  moved 
out  of  the  door  I  found  myself  tired  out,  and  full 
of  wrath  toward  my  returning  family.  I  never 
could  remember  that  these  little  spurts  of  rage 
were  the  primest  fun  for  my  people.  The  poor 
officer  who  had  been  so  guyed  did  not  gratify  his 
tormentors  by  getting  angry,  but  fell  to  planning 
new  mischief  for  the  next  arrival.  He  lost  no 
time  in  begging  my  pardon  for  the  hat,  and 
though  I  never  saw  much  of  him  afterward,  he 
left  only  pleasant  impressions  on  my  mind  of  a 
kind-hearted  man,  and  one  of  those  rare  beings 
who  knew  how  to  take  a  joke. 

We  derived  great  pleasure  from  our  horses  and 
dogs  during  the  autumn.  A  very  pretty  sorrel 
horse  was  selected  for  Diana,  but  we  had  little 
opportunity  to  have  her  for  a  companion.  The 
young  officers  engaged  her  a  week  in  advance, 


A  SNUGGLING  HORSE.  379 

and  about  all  we  sa*v  of  her  riding  was  an  ava- 
lanche of  flying  curls  as  she  galloped  off  beside 
some  dashing  cavalier.  I  remember  once,  when 
she  was  engaged  otherwise,  and  my  horse  tempo- 
rarily disabled,  I  took  hers,  and  my  husband  kept 
begging  me  to  guide  the  animal  better,  for  it  was 
nettling  his  fiery  beast  by  insisting  upon  too  close 
proximity.  It  finally  dawned  upon  us  that  the 
little  horse  was  a  constitutional  snuggler,  and  we 
gave  up  trying  to  teach  him  new  tricks.  But  how 
the  General  shouted,  and  bent  himself  forward 
and  back  in  his  saddle,  after  the  horse  had  almost 
crushed  his  leg  and  nothing  would  keep  him  at  a 
distance.  He  could  hardly  wait  to  get  back  to 
garrison,  and  when  we  did,  he  walked  into  the 
midst  of  a  collection  of  the  beaux  and  told  the 
whole  story  of  how  dreadfully  demoralized  a 
•cavalry  horse  in  good  and  regular  standing  could 
become,  in  the  hands  of  a  belle.  The  girl  blushed, 
and  the  officers  joined  in  the  laughter,  and  yet 
every  one  of  them  had  doubtless  been  busy  in 
teaching  that  little  tell-tale  animal  this  new  de- 
velopment of  character. 

It  was  delightful  ground  to  ride  over  about  Fort 
Riley.  Ah  !  what  happy  days  they  were,  for  at 
that  time  I  had  not  the  slightest  realization  of  what 
Indian  warfare  was,  and  consequently  no  dread. 
We  knew  that  the  country  they  infested  was  many 


380  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

miles  away,  and  we  could  rkle  in  any  direction  we 
chose.  The  dogs  would  be  aroused  from  the 
deepest  sleep  at  the  very  sight  of  our  riding  cos- 
tumes, and  by  the  time  we  were  well  into  them 
and  whip  in  hand,  they  leaped  and  sprang  about 
the  room,  tore  out  on  the  gallery,  and  tumbled 
over  one  another  and  the  furniture  in  racing  back, 
and  such  a  din  of  barking  and  joyful  whining  as 
they  set  up — the  noisier  the  better  for  my  husband. 
He  snapped  his  English  whip  to  incite  them,  and 
bounded  around  crying  out,  "Whoop  'em  up! 
whoop  'em  up  !"  adding  to  the  melee  by  a  toot 
on  the  dog-horn  he  had  brought  from  the  Texas 
deer-hunts.  All  this  excited  the  horses,  and  when 
I  was  tossed  into  the  saddle  amidst  this  turmoi 
with  the  dogs  leaping  around  the  horses'  heads,  I 
hardly  knew  whether  I  was  myself  or  the  ven- 
turesome young  woman  who  spends  her  life  in 
taking  airy  flights  through  paper-covered  circles 
in  a  saw-dust  ring.  It  took  some  years  for  me  to 
accustom  myself  to  the  wild  din  and  hubbub  of 
our  starting  for  a  ride  or  a  hunt.  As  I  have  said 
before,  I  had  lived  quietly  at  home,  and  my  dec- 
orous, suppressed  father  and  mother  never  even 
spoke  above  a  certain  tone.  The  General's  father, 
on  the  contrary,  had  rallied  his  sons  with  a  hallo 
and  resounding  shouts  from  their  boyhood.  So 
the  hullaballoo  of  all  our  merry  startings  was  a' 


A  SPRINGY  TURF.  381 

thing  of  my  husband's  early  days,  and  added  zest 
to  every  sport  he  undertook. 

Coming  from  Michigan,  where  there  is  a  liberal 
dispensation  of  swamp  and  quagmire,  having  been 
taught  by  dear  experience  that  Virginia  had 
quicksands  and  sloughs  into  which  one  could  dis- 
appear with  great  rapidity,  and  finally  having 
experienced  Texas  with  its  bayous,  baked  with  a 
deceiving  crust  of  mud,  and  its  rivers  with  quick- 
sand beds,  very  naturally  I  guided  my  horse 
around  any  lands  that  had  even  a  depression. 
Indeed,  he  spoke  volumes  with  his  sensitive  ears, 
as  the  turf  darkened  in  hollows,  and  was  ready 
enough  to  be  guided  by  the  rein  on  his  satin-like 
^eck,  to  the  safer  ground.  It  was  a  long  time 
before  I  realized  that  all  the  Plains  were  safe.  We 
chose  no  path,  and  stopped  at  no  suspicion  of  a 
slough.  Without  a  check  on  the  rein,  we  flew 
over  divide  after  divide,  and  it  is  beyond  my  pen 
to  describe  the  wild  sense  of  freedom  that  takes 
possession  of  one  in  the  first  buoyant  knowledge 
that  no  impediment,  seemingly,  lies  between  you 
and  the  setting  sun.  After  one  has  ridden  over 
conventional  highways,  the  beaten  path  marked 
out  by  fences,  hedges,  bridges,  etc.,  it  is  simply  an 
impossibility  to  describe  how  the  blood  bounds  in 
the  veins  at  the  freedom  of  an  illimitable  sea. 
No  spongy,  uncertain  ground  checks  the  course 


382  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

over  the  Plains ;  it  is  seldom  even  damp,  and  the 
air  is  so  exhilarating  one  feels  as  if  he  had  never 
breathed  a  full  breath  before.  Almost  the  first 
words  General  Sherman  said  to  me  out  there 
were,  "  Child,  you'll  find  the  air  of  the  Plains  is 
like  champagne,"  and  so  it  surely  was.  Oh,  the 
joy  of  taking  in  air  without  a  taint  of  the  city,  or 
even  the  country,  as  we  know  it  in  farm  life !  As 
we  rode  on,  speaking  enthusiastically  of  the  fra- 
grance and  purity  of  the  atmosphere,  our  horses 
neighed  and  whinnied  to  each  other,  and  snuffed 
the  air,  as  if  approving  all  that  was  said  of  that 
"  land  of  the  free."  My  husband  could  hardly 
breathe,  from  the  very  ecstasy  of  realizing  that 
nothing  trammeled  him.  He  scarcely  left  the 
garrison  behind  him,  where  he  was  bound  by 
chains  of  form  and  ceremony — the  inevitable  lot 
of  an  officer,  where  all  his  acts  are  under  surveil- 
lance, where  he  is  obliged  to  know  that  every 
hour  in  the  day  he  is  setting  an  example — be- 
fore he  became  the  wildest  and  most  frolicsome 
of  light-hearted  boys.  His  horse  and  he  were  one, 
not  only  as  he  sat  in  the  saddle  a  part  of  the  ani- 
mal, swayed  by  every  motion  of  the  active, 
graceful  beast,  but  such  unison  of  spirit  took 
possession  of  each,  it  was  hard  to  believe  that  a 
human  heart  did  not  beat  under  the  broad, 
splendid  chest  of  the  high-strung  animal. 


A  FEARLESS  HOUSEMAN.  385 

It  were  well  if  human  hearts  responded  to  our 
fondness,  and  came  instantly  to  be  en  rapport 
with  us,  as  did  those  dear  animals  when  they  flew 
with  us  out  to  freedom  and  frolic,  over  the  di- 
vides that  screened  us  from  the  conventional 
proprieties.  My  husband's  horse  had  almost 
human  ways  of  talking  with  him,  as  he  leaned  far 
out  of  the  saddle  and  laid  his  face  on  the  gallant 
animal's  head,  and  there  was  a  gleam  in  the  eyer 
a  proud  little  toss  of  the  head,  speaking  back  a 
whole  world  of  affection.  The  General  could  ride 
hanging  quite  out  of  sight  from  the  opposite  side, 
one  foot  caught  in  the  stirrup,  his  hand  on  the 
mane  ;  and  it  made  no  difference  to  his  beloved 
friend,  he  took  any  mode  that  his  master  chose  to 
cling  to  him  as  a  matter  of  course,  and  curvetted 
and  pranced  in  the  loftiest,  proudest  way.  His 
manner  said  as  plainly  as  speech,  "  See  what  we 
two  can  do  ! "  I  rarely  knew  him  have  a  horse 
that  did  not  soon  become  so  pervaded  with  his 
spirit  that  they  appeared  to  be  absolutely  one  in 
feeling.  I  was  obliged,  usually,  to  submit  to  some 
bantering  slur  on  my  splendid  Custis  Lee.  Per- 
haps a  dash  at  first  would  carry  the  General  and 
the  dogs  somewhat  in  advance.  My  side  had  a 
trick  of  aching  if  we  started  off  on  a  gallop,  and  I 
was  obliged  to  keep  a  tight  rein  on  Custis  Lee  at 
first,  as  he  champed  at  the  bit,  tossed  his  impa- 


384  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

tient  head,  and  showed  every  sign  of  ignominious 
shame.  The  General,  as  usual,  called  out,  "  Come 
on,  old  lady  !  Chug  up  that  old  plug  of  yours  ; 
IVe  got  one  orderly  ;  don't  want  another  " — this 
because  the  soldier  in  attendance  is  instructed  to 
ride  at  a  certain  distance  in  the  rear.  After  a 
spurt  of  tremendous  speed,  back  flew  the  master 
to  beg  me  to  excuse  him ;  he  was  ready  now  to 
ride  slowly  till  "  that  side  of  mine  came  round  to 
time,"  which  it  quickly  did,  and  then  I  revenged 
the  insult  on  my  swift  Lee,  and  the  maligner  at 
last  called  out,  "  That's  not  so  bad  a  nag,  after  all." 
The  horses  bounded  from  the  springy  turf  as  if 
they  really  hated  the  necessity  of  touching  the 
sod  at  all.  They  were  very  well  matched  in 
speed,  and  as  on  we  flew  we  were  "  neck  by  neck, 
stride  by  stride,  never  changing  our  place."  Breath- 
less at  last,  horses,  dogs  and  ourselves  made  a 
halt.  The  orderly  with  his  slow  troop  horse  was 
a  speck  in  the  distance.  Of  course  I  had  gone  to 
pieces  little  by  little,  between  the  mad  speed  and 
rushing  through  the  wind  of  the  Plains.  Those 
were  ignominious  days  for  women — thank  fortune 
they  are  over !  Custom  made  it  necessary  to  dis- 
figure ourselves  with  the  awkward  water-fall,  and, 
no  matter  how  luxuriant  the  hair,  it  seemed  a 
necessity  to  still  pile  up  more.  With  many  a 
wrathful  opinion  regarding  the  fashion,  the  General 


HORSES  AS  COMPANIONS.  385 

took  the  hairpins,  net  and  switch,  and  thrust  them 
into  the  breast  of  his  coat,  as  he  said,  "  to  clear  the 
decks  for  action  for  another  race."  It  was  enough 
that  he  offered  to  carry  these  barbarities  of  civiliza- 
tion for  me,  without  my  bantering  him  about  his 
ridiculousness  if  some  accidental  opening  of  his 
coat  in  the  presence  of  the  officers,  who  were  then 
strangers,  revealed  what  he  scoffingly  called  "  dead 
women's  hair." 

A  fresh  repinning,  an  ignoring  of  hairpins  this 
time,regirting  of  saddles,  some  proud  patting  of  the 
horses'  quivering  flanks,  passing  of  the  hand  over 
the  full  veins  of  their  necks,  praise  of  the  beautiful 
distended,  blood-red  nostrils,  and  up  we  leap  for 
another  race.  If  spur  or  whip  had  been  used  in 
speeding  our  horses,  it  would  have  spoiled  the 
sport  for  me,  as  the  effort  and  strain  looks  so 
cruelly  like  work  ;  but  the  animals  were  as  im- 
patient for  a  run  as  we  were  to  start  them.  It 
must  be  a  rare  moment  of  pleasure  to  all  horse- 
lovers,  to  watch  an  animal  flying  over  the  ground, 
without  an  incentive  save  the  love  of  motion  born 
in  the  beast.  When  we  came  to  certain  smooth 
stretches  on  the  road,  where  we  were  accustomed 
to  give  the  horse  the  rein,  they  grew  excited  and 
impatient,  and  teased  for  the  run  if  we  chanced 
to  be  earnestly  talking  and  forgot  to  take  it.  How 
fortunate  is  one  who  can  ride  a  mythological 


386  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

Pegasus  as  well  as  a  veritable  horse !  There  is 
nothing  left  for  the  less  gifted  but  to  use  others' 
words  for  our  own  enthusiasm. 

"Now  we're  off,  like  the  winds,  to  the  plains  whence  they  came; 
And  the  rapture  of  motion  is  thrilling  my  frame  ! 
On,  on,  speeds  my  courser,  scarce  printing  the  sod, 
Scarce  crushing  a  daisy  to  mark  where  we  trod; 
On,  on,  like  a  deer  when  the  hounds'  early  bay 
Awakes  the  wild  echoes,  away  and  away! 
Still  faster,  still  farther,  he  leaps  at  my  cheer, 
Till  the  rush  of  the  startled  air  whirs  in  my  ear!" 

Buchanan  Read  not  only  made  General  Sheri- 
dan's splendid  black  horse  immortal,  but  his  grate- 
ful owner  kept  that  faithful  beast,  when  it  was 
disabled,  in  a  paddock  at  Leavenworth,  and  then, 
when  age  and  old  wounds  ended  his  life,  he  per- 
petuated his  memory  by  having  the  taxidermist 
set  him  up  in  the  Military  Museum  at  Governor's 
Island,  that  the  boys  of  this  day,  to  whom  the  war 
is  only  history,  may  remember  what  a  splendid 
part  a  horse  took  in  those  days,  when  soldiers 
were  not  the  only  heroes.  I  thank  a  poet  for 
having  written  thus  for  us  to  whom  the  horse  is 
almost  human. 

"  I  tell  thee,  stranger,  that  unto  me 
The  plunge  of  a  fiery  steed 
Is  a  noble  thought— to  the  brave  and  free 
It  is  music,  and  breath,  and  majesty — 
'Tis  the  life  of  a  noble  deed ; 
And  the  heart  and  the  mind  are  in  spirit  allied 
In  the  charm  of  a  morning's  glorious  ride." 


A  SUSPENDED  EQUESTRIENNE. 
387 


388  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

There  was  a  long,  smooth  stretch  of  land  be- 
yond Fort  Riley,  where  we  used  to  speed  our 
horses,  and  it  even  now  seems  one  of  the  fair  spots 
of  earth,  it  is  so  marked  by  happy  hours.  In  real- 
ity it  was  a  level  plain  without  a  tree,  and  the 
dried  buffalo-grass  had  then  scarcely  a  tinge  of 
green.  This  neutral-tinted,  monotonous  surface 
continued  for  many  unvarying  miles.  We  could 
do  as  we  chose  after  we  had  passed  out  of  sight  of 
the  garrison,  and  our  orderly,  if  he  happened  to 
have  a  decent  horse,  kept  drawing  the  muscles  of 
his  face  into  a  soldierly  expression,  trying  not  to  be 
so  undignified  as  to  laugh  at  the  gamesomeness, 
the  frolic,  of  his  commanding  officer.  What  a  re- 
lief for  the  poor  fellow,  in  his  uneventful  life,  to 
get  a  look  at  these  pranks !  I  can  see  him  now, 
trying  to  keep  his  head  away  and  look  unconscious, 
but  his  eyes  turned  in  their  sockets  in  spite  of  him 
and  caught  it  all.  Those  eyes  were  wild  with 
terror  one  day,  when  our  horses  were  going  full 
tilt,  and  the  General  with  one  powerful  arm,  lifted 
me  out  of  my  saddle  and  held  me  poised  in  the 
air  for  a  moment.  Our  horses  were  so  evenly 
matched  in  speed  they  were  neck  and  neck,  keep- 
ing close  to  each  other,  seemingly  regardless  of 
anything  except  the  delight  at  the  speed  with 
which  they  left  the  country  behind  them.  In  the 
brief  moment  that  I  found  myself  suspended  be- 


A  SUDDEN  ELEVATION.  389 

Iween  heaven  and  earth,  I  thought,  with  lightning 
rapidity,  that  I  must  cling  to  my  bridle  and  keep 
control  of  my  flying  horse,  and  trust  to  good  for- 
tune whether  I  alighted  on  his  ear  or  his  tail. 
The  moment  I  was  thus  held  aloft  was  an  hour  in 
uncertainty,  but  nothing  happened,  and  it  taught 
me  to  prepare  for  sudden  raids  of  the  commanding 
•officer  after  that.  I  read  of  this  feat  in  some  novel, 
but  was  incredulous  until  it  was  successfully  prac- 
ticed on  me.  The  Custer  men  were  given  to  what 
their  Maryland  father  called  "  toting  "  us  around. 
I've  seen  them  pick  up  their  mother  and  carry  her 
over  the  house  as  if  she  weighed  fifty  instead  of  one 
hundred  and  fifty  pounds.  There  was  no  chance 
for  dignified  anger  with  them.  No  matter  howr 
indignant  I  might  be,  or  how  loftily  I  might 
answer  back,  or  try  one  of  those  eloquent  silences 
to  which  we  women  sometimes  resort  in  moments 
of  wrath,  I  was  snatched  up  by  either  my  husband 
or  Tom,  and  had  a  chance  to  commune  with  the 
ceiling  in  my  airy  flight  up  and  down  stairs  and 
through  the  rooms. 

One  of  our  rides  marked  a  day  with  me,  for  it 
was  the  occasion  of  a  very  successful  exchange  of 
horses.  My  husband  used  laughingly  to  refer  to 
the  transaction  as  unfortunate  for  him  ;  but  as  it 
was  at  his  suggestion,  I  clung  with  pertinacity  to 
the  bargain.  My  horse,  Custis  Lee,  being  a  pacer, 


390  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

my  husband  felt  in  the  fascination  of  that  smooth, 
swift  gait  I  might  be  so  wedded  to  it  I  could  never 
endure  anything  else  ;  so  he  suggested,  while  we 
were  far  out  on  our  evening  ride,  that  we  change 
saddles  and  try  each  other's  horse.  I  objected,  for 
though  I  could  ride  a  spirited  horse  when  I  had 
come  to  know  him,  I  dreaded  the  early  stages  of 
acquaintance.  Besides,  Phil  was  a  high -strung 
colt,  and  it  was  a  venturesome  experiment  to  try 
him  with  a  long  riding-skirt,  loaded  with  shot, 
knocking  about  his  legs.  At  that  time  the  safe 
fashion  of  short  habits  was  not  in  vogue,  and  the 
high  winds  of  Kansas  left  no  alternative  to  load- 
ing our  skirts.  We  kept  opening  the  hern  and  in- 
serting the  little  shot-bags  as  long  as  we  lived 
there.  Fortunately  for  me,  I  was  persuaded  into 
trying  the  colt.  As  soon  as  he  broke  into  a  long 
swinging  trot,  I  was  so  enchanted  and  so  hilarious 
with  the  motion,  that  I  mentally  resolved  never  to 
yield  the  honor  temporarily  conferred  upon  me. 
It  was  the  beginning  of  an  eternal  vigilance  for  my 
husband.  The  animal  was  so  high-strung,  so 
quick,  notwithstanding  he  was  so  large,  that  he 
sprang  from  one  side  of  the  road  to  the  other  on 
all  fours,  without  the  slightest  warning.  After  I 
had  checked  him  and  recovered  my  breath,  we 
looked  about  for  a  cause  for  this  fright,  and  found 
only  the  dark  earth  where  slight  moisture  had  re- 


'PHIL"  CHANGES  HANDS. 


391 


mained  from  a  shower.  In  order  to  get  the 
smoothest  trotting-  out  of  him,  I  rode  with  a 
snaffle,  and  I  never  knew  the  General's  eyes  to  be 
off  him  for  more  than  an  instant.  The  officers 
protested,  and  implored  my  husband  to  change 
back  and  give  me  the  pacer.  But  his  pride  was 
up,  and  he  enjoyed  seeing  the  animal  on  fire  with 
delight  at  doing  his  best  under  a  light  weight,  and 
he  had  genuine  love  for  the  brute  that,  though  so 
hard  to  manage  in  his  hands,  responded  to  my 
lightest  touch  or  to  my  voice. 

As  time  advanced  and  our  regiment  gained 
better  and  better  horseflesh,  it  was  a  favorite 
scheme  to  pit  Phil  against  new-comers.  We  all 
started  out,  a  gay  cavalcade  of  noisy,  happy 
people,  and  the  stranger  was  given  the  post  of 
honor  next  to  the  wife  of  the  commanding  officer. 
Of  course  he  thought  nothing  of  this,  as  he  had 
been  at  the  right  of  the  hostess  at  dinner.  The 
other  officers  saw  him  take  his  place  as  if  it  were 
the  most  natural  thing  in  the  world,  but  in  reality 
it  was  a  deep-laid  plot.  Phil  started  off  with  so 
little  effort  that  our  visitor  thought  nothing  of 
keeping  pace  for  a  while,  and  then  he  began  to 
use  his  spurs.  As  my  colt  took  longer  and  longer 
strides,  there  was  triumph  in  the  faces  of  the  offi- 
cers, and  a  big  gleam  of  delight  in  the  General's 
eye.  Then  came  the  perplexity  in  my  guest's  face 


392  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

at  a  trotter  outdoing  the  most  splendid  specimen 
of  a  loping  horse,  as  he  thought.  A  little  glance 
from  my  husband,  which  incited  me  to  give  a  sign 
and  a  low  word  or  two  that  only  Phil  and  I  under- 
stood, and  off  we  flew,  leaving  the  mystified  man 
urging  his  nag  in  vain.  It  was  not  quite  my  idea 
of  hospitality  so  to  introduce  a  new-comer  to  our 
horses'  speed ;  but  then  he  was  not  a  transient 
guest,  and  the  sooner  he  knew  all  our  "  tricks  and 
our  manners  "  the  better,  while  it  was  beyond  my 
power  of  self-denial  to  miss  seeing  the  proud  tri- 
umph in  my  husband's  eyes  as  he  rode  up  and 
patted  the  colt  and  received  the  little  return  of 
affection  from  the  knowing  beast.  Phil  went  on  im- 
proving in  gait  and  swiftness  as  he  grew  in  years, 
and  I  once  had  the  courage,  afterward,  to  speed  him 
on  the  Government  race-track  at  Fort  Leaven- 
worth,  though  to  this  day  I  cannot  understand 
how  I  got  up  to  concert  pitch  ;  and  I  could  never 
be  induced  to  try  such  an  experiment  again.  I 
suppose  I  often  made  as  good  time,  trotting  beside 
my  husband's  horse,  but  to  go  alone  was  some- 
thing I  was  never  permitted  to  do  on  a  roadway. 
The  General  and  brother  Tom  connived  to  get 
this  bit  of  temporary  courage  out  of  me  by  an  off- 
hand conversation,  as  we  rode  toward  the  track, 
regarding  what  Phil  might  be  made  to  do  under 
the  best  circumstances,  which  I  knew  meant  the 


AN  EXCITING  RIDE.  393 

snaffle-rein,  a  light  weight,  and  my  hand,  which 
the  General  had  trained  to  be  steady.  I  tried  to 
beg  off  and  suggest  either  one  of  them  for  the 
trial ;  but  the  curb  which  they  were  obliged  to  use, 
as  Phil  was  no  easy  brute  to  manage  with  them, 
made  him  break  his  gait,  and  a  hundred  and  sev- 
enty pounds  on  his  back  was  another  obstacle  to 
speed.  It  ended  in  my  being  teased  into  the 
experiment,  and  though  I  called  out,  after  the  first 
half-mile,  that  I  could  not  breathe  any  longer,  the 
air  rushed  into  my  lungs  so  rapidly,  they  implored 
and  urged  by  gesture  and  enthusiastic  praise,  until 
I  made  the  mile  they  had  believed  Phil  equal  to 
in  three  minutes. 

I  wish  I  could  describe  what  delight  my  hus- 
band took  in  his  horse  life,  what  hours  of  recrea- 
tion and  untiring  pleasure  he  got  out  of  our  com- 
panionship with  Jack  Rucker,  Phil  and  Custis  Lee. 
On  that  day  we  three  and  our  orderly  were  alone 
on  the  track,  and  such  a  merry,  noisy,  care-forget- 
ting three  as  we  were !  the  General,  with  his  stop- 
watch in  hand,  cheering  me,  urging  the  horse 
wildly,  clapping  his  hands,  and  hallooing  with 
joy  as  the  animal  responded  to  his  expectation. 
Phil's  coming  up  to  their  boasts  and  anticipations 
was  just  a  little  episode  in  our  life  that  went  to 
prove  what  a  rare  faculty  he  had  of  getting  much 
out  of  little,  and  of  how  persistently  the  boy  in 


394 


TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 


him  cropped  out  as  soon  as  an  opportunity  came 
to  throw  care  aside.  It  is  one  of  the  results  of  a 
life  of  deprivation,  that  pleasures,  when  they  come, 
are  rarities,  and  the  enjoyment  is  intensified.  In 
our  life  they  lasted  so  short  a  time  that  we  had 
no  chance  to  learn  the  meaning  of  satiety. 

One  of  the  hardest  trials,  in  our  first  winter  with 
the  regiment,  was  that  arising  from  the  constantly 
developing  tendency  to  hard  drinking.  Some  who 
came  to  us  had  held  up  for  a  time,  but  they  were 
not  restricted  in  the  volunteer  service,  as  a  man 
who  fought  well  was  forgiven  much  else  that 
came,  in  the  rare  intervals  of  peace.  In  the  new 
state  of  affairs,  as  went  the  first  few  months  of  the 
regiment,  so  would  it  go  for  all  time.  There  was 
a  regiment  stationed  in  New  Mexico  at  that  time, 
the  record  of  which  was  shameful.  We  heard  of 
its  career  by  every  overland  train  that  came  into 
our  post,  and  from  officers  who  went  out  on  duty. 
General  Sherman  said  that,  with  such  a  set  of 
drunkards,  the  regiment,  officers  and  all,  should  be 
mustered  out  of  the  service.  Anything,  then,  rather 
than  let  our  Seventh  follow  such  a  course.  But  I 
must  not  leave  the  regiment  at  that  point  in  its 
history.  Eventually  it  came  out  all  right,  ably 
officered  and  well  soldiered,  but  it  was  the  terror 
of  the  country  in  1867.  While  General  Custer 
steadily  fought  against  drunkenness,  he  was  not 


ALONE  ON  A  PA  TTLE-FIELD. 


395 


remorseless  or  unjust.  I  could  cite  one  instance 
after  another,  to  prove  with  what  patience  he  strove 
to  reclaim  some  who  were,  I  fear,  hopeless  when 
they  joined  us.  His  own  greatest  battles  were 
not  fought  in  the  tented  field  ;  his  most  glori- 
ous combats  were  those  waged  in  daily,  hourly, 
fights  on  a  more  hotly  contested  field  than  was 
ever  known  in  common  warfare.  The  truest 
heroism  is  not  that  which  goes  out  supported  by 
strong  battalions  and  reserve  artillery.  It  is  when 
a  warrior  for  the  right  enters  into  the  conflict  alone, 
and  dares  to  exercise  his  will,  in  defiance  of  some 
established  custom  in  which  lies  a  lurking,  deadly 
peril  or  sin.  I  have  known  my  husband  to  almost 
stand  alone  in  his  opinion  regarding  temperance, 
in  a  garrison  containing  enough  people  to  make  a 
good-sized  village.  He  was  thoroughly  unosten- 
tatious about  his  convictions,  and  rarely  said 
much  ;  but  he  stood  to  his  fixed  purpose,  purely 
from  horror  of  the  results  of  drinking.  I  would 
not  imply  that  in  garrison  General  Custer  was  the 
only  man  invariably  temperate.  There  were  some 
on  pledge  ;  some  temperate  because  they  paid  such 
a  physical  penalty  by  actual  illness  that  they 
could  not  drink  ;  some  restrained  because  their  best 
loved  comrade,  weak  in  his  own  might,  "  swore 
off  "  on  consideration  that  the  stronger  one  of  the 
two  backed  him  up  ;  some  (God  bless  them  !)  re- 


396  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

fused  because  the  woman  they  loved  grieved,  and 
was  afraid  of  even  one  friendly  glass.  What  I  mean 
is,  that  the  general  custom,  against  which  there  is 
little  opposition  in  any  life,  is,  either  to  indulge  in 
the  social  glass,  or  look  leniently  upon  the  habit. 
Without  preaching  or  parading  his  own  strength 
in  having  overcome  the  habit,  General  Custer 
stood  among  the  officers  and  men  as  firm  an  advo- 
cate of  temperance  as  any  evangelist  whose  life  is 
devoted  to  the  cause. 

I  scarcely  think  I  would  have  realized  the  con- 
stantly recurring  temptations  of  my  husband's  life, 
had  I  not  been  beside  him  when  he  fought  these 
oft-repeated  battles.  The  pleasure  he  had  in  con- 
vivial life,  the  manner  in  which  men  and  women 
urged  him  to  join  them  in  enjoyment  of  the  spark- 
ling wine,  was  enough  to  have  swept  every  resolu- 
tion to  the  winds.  Sometimes,  the  keen  blade  of 
sarcasm,  though  set  with  jewels  of  wit  and  appar- 
ent badinage,  added  a  cut  that  my  ears,  so  quick- 
ened to  my  husband's  hard  position,  heard  and 
grieved  over.  But  he  laughed  off  the  carefully 
concealed  thrust.  When  we  were  at  home  in  our 
own  room,  if  I  asked  him,  blazing  anew  with 
wrath  at  such  a  stab,  how  he  kept  his  temper,  he 
replied,  "Why  notice  it?  Don't  I  know  what  I've 
been  through  to  gain  my  victory  ?  That  fellow, 
you  must  remember,  has  fought  and  lost,  and 


RESENTING  AN  INSULT. 


397 


knows  in  his  soul  he'll  go  to  the  dogs  if  he  doesn't 
hold  up,  and,  Libbie,  he  can't  do  it,  and  I  am 
sorry  for  him."  Our  brother  Tom  was  less  patient, 
less  forbearing,  for  in  one  of  his  times  of  pledge, 
when  the  noble  fellow  had  given  his  word  not  to 
taste  a  drop  for  a  certain  season  if  a  man  he  loved, 
and  about  whom  he  was  anxious,  would  do  the 
same,  he  was  sneered  at  by  a  brother  officer,  with 
gibes  at  his  supposed  or  attempted  superiority, 
Tom  leaped  across  the  table  in  the  tent  where 
they  sat  at  dinner,  and  shook  up  his  assailant  in  a 
very  emphatic  way.  I  laugh  in  remembrance  of 
his  choler,  and  am  proud  of  it  now.  I,  as  "  gentle- 
woman," descended  from  a  line  of  decorous  gen- 
tlemen and  ladies,  ought  to  be  horrified  at  one 
man's  seizing  another  by  the  collar  and  pouncing 
upon  him,  regardless  of  the  Marquis  of  Queens- 
bury  rules.  But  I  know  that  circumstances  alter 
cases,  and  in  our  life  an  occasional  good  shaking 
was  better  than  the  slow  justice  of  a  tedious 
court-martial. 

The  General  would  not  smile,  but  there  was  a 
noticeable  twisting  of  his  mustache,  and  he  took 
himself  out  of  the  way  to  conceal  his  feelings, 
when  I  pointed  my  discerning  finger  at  him  and 
said,  "  You're  laughing,  your  own  self,  and  you 
think  Tom  was  right,  even  if  you  don't  say  a  word, 
and  look  so  dreadfully  commandery-officery  at 


398  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

both  of  us ! "  The  General  did  not  keep  himself 
aloof,  and  sometimes,  in  convivial  scenes,  when  he 
joined  in  the  increasing  hilarity,was  so  infused  with 
the  growing  artificial  jovialty,  and  grew  jollier 
and  jollier,  that  he  was  accused  himself  of  being 
the  wildest  drinker  of  them  all.  But  some  one 
was  sure  to  speak  up  and  say,  as  the  morning  ap- 
proached, "I  have  sat  beside  Custer  the  night 
through,  and  if  he's  intoxicated  it's  over  water,  for 
he  has  not  tasted  a  drop  of  wine — more  loss  to 
him,  I  say."  After  a  campaign,  his  nose  was  fiery 
red  from  the  summer's  exposure,  and  some  one 
said,  "If  Custer  wishes  to  pass  for  a  temperance 
man,  he'd  better  take  in  his  sign."  When  this  was 
reported  to  us,  the  General  sang  an  old  song,  to 
drown  the  spluttering  of  his  indignant  better 

half— 

"Nose,  nose,  jolly  red  nose," 

to  an  appropriate  bacchanalian  tune,  and  I  found 
him  smoothing  caressingly  this  feature  of  his  face; 
telling  me  that  people  might  scoff  at  its  color,  but 
its  stock  had  gone  up  with  him.  Some  one  once 
told  me  that  distinguished  men  of  strong  charac- 
ter had  almost  invariably  big  noses.  I  noted  that, 
and  counted  noses  when  we  found  ourselves  in  an 
assembly  at  the  East  with  people  of  note,  and  as 
my  husband  passed  me,  I  was  guilty  of  whisper- 
ing that  I  had  gone  over  the  assembly,  and  noted 


ICE  INSTEAD  OF  WINE.  399 

the  number  down  in  my  memory,  and  that  ours 
out-shone  and  out-sized  them  all.  After  that,  no 
thrust  at  the  tint  so  suspiciously  red  after  a  scout 
disturbed  him  in  the  least.  Only  a  short  time 
before  the  final  battle,  he  dined  in  New  York,  at 
a  house  where  General  McDowell  was  also  a 
guest.  When  no  one  else  could  hear,  he  told  me, 
with  a  warning  not  to  talk  of  it,  that  he  had  some 
one  to  keep  him  company,  and  described  the  bowl 
of  ice  that  stood  in  the  midst  of  the  untouched 
semicircle  of  glasses  before  General  McDowell, 
and  how  the  ice  seemed  just  as  satisfactory  as  any 
of  the  rare  beverages.  We  listened  once  to  John 
B.  Gough,  and  the  General's  enthusiasm  over  his 
earnestness  and  his  eloquence  was  enhanced  by 
the  well-known  fact  of  his  failures,  and  the  plucky 
manner  in  which  he  started  anew.  Everybody 
cries  over  Jefferson's  Rip  Van  Winkle,  even  if 
they  have  never  encountered  drunkenness,  and  my 
husband  wept  like  a  child  because  of  his  intense 
sympathy  for  the  weakness  of  the  poor  tempted 
soul,  harrowed  as  he  was  by  a  Xantippe. 

If  women  in  civil  life  were  taken  among  men, 
as  army  women  are,  in  all  sorts  of  festivities,  they 
would  get  a  better  idea  of  what  strength  of  pur- 
pose it  requires  to  carry  out  a  principle.  At  some 
army  posts  the  women  go  to  the  sutler's  store 
with  their  husbands,  for  billiards  or  amusements. 


4OO  TENTING  ON  THE  PL  A  INS. 

There  is  a  separate  room  for  the  soldiers,  so  we 
see  nothing  of  those  poor  fellows  who  never  can 
stay  sober.  The  sutler's  is  not  only  the  store, 
but  it  is  the  club-house  for  the  garrison,  and  I 
have  known  posts  where  the  officers  were  SQ 
guarded  about  their  drinking,  that  women  could 
go  among  them  and  join  in  any  amusement  with- 
out being  liable  to  the  distress  that  the  sight  of 
an  intoxicated  man  invariably  gives  to  a  sensitive 
woman.  If  I  saw  drunken  soldiers  reeling  off 
after  pay-day,  it  was  the  greatest  possible  relief  to 
me  to  know,  that  out  of  hundreds  only  a  few  were 
married,  as  but  a  certain  number  of  the  laun- 
dresses were  allowed  to  a  company.  So  no 
woman's  heart  was  going  to  be  wrung  by  unsteady 
steps  approaching  her  door,  and  the  sight  of  the 
vacant  eyes  of  a  weak  husband.  '  It  took  away 
half  the  sting  and  shock,  to  know  that  a  soldier's 
spree  was  not  one  that  recoiled  on  an  innocent 
woman. 

As  I  look  back  upon  our  life,  I  do  not  believe 
there  ever  was  any  path  so  difficult  as  those  men 
on  the  frontier  trod.  Their  failures,  their  fights, 
their  vacillations,  all  were  before  us,  and  it  was 
an  anxious  life  to  be  watching  who  won  and  who 
lost  in  those  moral  warfares.  You  could  not  sepa- 
rate yourself  from  the  interests  of  one  another. 
It  was  a  network  of  friendships  that  became  more 


BESETTING  TEMPTATIONS. 


4OI 


and  more  interwoven  by  common  hardships,  dep- 
rivations, dangers,  by  isolation  and  the  daily 
sharing  of  joys  and  troubles.  I  am  thankful  for 
the  certainty  that  there  is  some  one  who  scores  all 
our  fights  and  all  our  victories ;  for  on  His  records 
will  be  written  the  story  of  the  thorny  path  over 
which  an  officer  walked  if  he  reached  the  goal. 

Women  shielded  in  homes,  supported  by  ex- 
ample, unconscious  of  any  temptation  save  the 
mildest,  will  realize  with  me  what  it  was  to  watch 
the  quivering  mouth  of  a  man  who  voluntarily 
admitted  that  until  he  was  fifty  he  knew  he  was  in 
hourly  peril  of  being  a  drunkard.  The  tears  blind 
me  as  I  go  back  in  retrospection  and  think  over 
the  men  that  warred  against  themselves. ,; 

In  one  respect,  there  never  was  such  a  life  as 
ours  ;  it  was  eminently  one  of  partings.  How 
natural,  then,  that  the  last  act  before  separa- 
tion be  one  of  hospitable  generosity !  How 
little  we  had  to  offer !  It  was  often  almost  an 
impossibility  to  get  up  a  good  dinner.  Then 
we  had  so  many  coming  to  us  from  a  distance, 
that  our  welcome  could  not  be  followed  up 
by  any  entertainment  worthy  of  the  name. 
Besides,  there  were  promotions  to  celebrate,  an 
occasional  son  and  heir  to  toast,  birthdays  occur- 
ring so  often,  and  nothing  in  the  world  that  an- 
swered for  an  expression  of  hospitality  and  good 


402  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

feeling  but  an  old  straw  demijohn  behind  the  door. 
It  was  surprising  what  pertinacious  lives  the  demi- 
johns of  the  garrison  had.  The  driver  of  the 
wagon  containing  the  few  appointments  of  an 
officer's  outfit,  was  just  as  careful  of  the  familiar 
friend  as  one  could  wish  servants  to  be  with  the 
lares  and  penates  of  an  aesthetic  household.  If 
he  was  rewarded  with  a  drink  from  the  sacred 
demijohn,  after  having  safely  preserved  it  over 
muddy  roads,  where  the  mules  jerked  the  prairie- 
schooner  out  of  ruts,  and  where,  except  for  a  pro- 
tecting hand,  the  contents  would  have  saturated 
the  wagon,  he  was  thankful.  But  such  was  his 
reverence  for  what  he  considered  the  most  valu- 
able possession  of  the  whole  wagon,  virtue  alone 
would  have  been  sufficient  reward.  When  in  the 
regimental  movings  the  crockery  (the  very 
heaviest  that  is  made)  was  smashed,  the  furniture 
broken,  carpets,  curtains,  clothes  and  bedding 
mildewed  and  torn,  the  old  demijohn  neither 
broke,  spilled  nor  suffered  any  injury  by  exposure 
to  the  elements.  It  was,  in  the  opinion  of  our 
lovers  of  good  whisky,  a  "  survival  of  the  fittest." 
It  never  came  to  be  an  old  story  with  me,  that 
in  this  constant, familiar  association  with  drinkings, 
the  General  and  those  of  his  comrades  who  ab- 
stained could  continue  to  exercise  a  marvelous 
self-control.  I  could  not  help  constantly  speaking 


AN  UNLIMITED  TETHER.  403 

to  my  husband  of  what  he  went  through  ;  and  it 
seemed  to  me  that  no  liberty  could  be  too  great  to 
extend  to  men  who,  always  keeping  their  heads, 
were  clear  as  to  what  they  were  about.  The  do- 
mestic lariat  of  a  cavalryman  might  well  be  drawn 
in,  if  the  women  waiting  at  home  were  uncertain 
whether  the  brains  of  their  liege  lords  would  be 
muddled  when  absent  from  their  influence. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

"  GOOD    SOCIETY  " AN     EMBARRASSING     POSITION     FOR 

AN    OFFICER THE     GENERAL    EXTRICATES    HIM A 

MOCK   TRIAL VARIETIES    OF  CHARACTER LESSONS 

IN    HORSEMANSHIP A   DISGRACED  CAVALRY-WOMAN 

GOSSIP A     MEDLEY    OF    OFFICERS     AND    MEN 

WAR    ON    A    DRESSING-GOWN. 

FT  was  well  we  had  our  horses  at  Fort  Riley  for 
recreation,  as  walking  was  almost  out  of  the 
question  in  autumn.  The  wind  blew  unceasingly 
all  the  five  years  we  were  in  Kansas,  but  it  seemed 
to  do  its  wildest  work  in  autumn.  No  one  had 
told  us  of  its  incessant  activity,  and  I  watched  for 
it  to  quiet  down  for  days  after  our  arrival,  and 
grew  restless  and  dull  for  want  of  exercise,  but 
dared  not  go  out.  As  the  post  was  on  a  plateau, 
the  wind  from  the  two  river  valleys  swept  over  it 
constantly.  The  flag  was  torn  into  ribbons  in  no 
time,  and  the  storm-flag,  made  smaller  and  used 
in  rainy  weather,  had  to  be  raised  a  good  deal, 
while  the  larger  and  handsomer  one  was  being 
mended.  We  found  that  the  other  women  of  the 
garrison,  who  were  there  when  we  arrived,  ven- 

404 


VOLUMINOUS  DRAPERY. 


405 


tured  out  to  see  one  another,  and  even  crossed  the 
parade-ground  when  it  was  almost  impossible  to 
keep  on  one's  feet.  It  seems  to  date  very  far  back, 
when  I  recall  that  our  dresses  then  measured  five 
yards  around,  and  were  gathered  as  full  as  could 
be  pressed  into  the  waist-band.  These  seven 
breadths  of  skirt  flew  out  in  advance  of  us,  if  they 
did  not  lift  themselves  over  our  heads.  My  skirts 
wrapped  themselves  around  my  husband's  ankles, 
and  rendered  locomotion  very  difficult  for  us  both, 
if  we  tried  to  take  our  evening  stroll.  He  thought 
out  a  plan,  which  he  helped  me  to  carry  into  effect, 
by  cutting  bits  of  lead  in  small  strips,  and  these  I 
sewed  into  the  hem.  Thus  loaded  down,  we  took 
our  constitutional  about  the  post,  and  outwitted 
the  elements,  which  at  first  bade  fair  to  keep  us 
perpetually  housed. 

There  was  very  little  social  life  in  garrison  that 
winter.  The  officers  were  busy  studying  tactics, 
and  accustoming  themselves  to  the  new  order  of 
affairs,  so  very  different  from  their  volunteer  ex- 
perience. Had  not  everything  been  so  novel,  I 
should  have  felt  disappointed  in  my  first  associa- 
tion with  the  regular  army  in  garrison.  I  did  not 
then  consider  that  the  few  old  officers  and  their 
families  were  really  the  regular  army,  and  so  was 
somewhat  disheartened  regarding  our  future  asso- 
ciates. As  fast  as  our  own  officers  arrived,  a 


406  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

part  of  the  regiment  that  had  garrisoned  Fort 
Riley  before  we  came,  went  away  ;  but  it  soon  be- 
came too  late  in  the  season  to  send  the  remainder. 
The  post  was  therefore  crowded.  The  best  man- 
ners with  which  all  had  made  their  debut  wore  off, 
and  some  jangling  began.  Some  drank  too 
freely  and  were  placed  under  arrest,  or  released  if 
they  went  on  pledge.  Nothing  was  said,  of 
course,  if  they  were  sober  enough  for  duty  ;  but 
there  were  some  hopeless  cases  from  the  first.  For 
instance,  a  new  appointee  made  his  entrance  into 
our  parlor,  when  paying  the  visit  that  military  eti- 
quette requires,  by  falling  in  at  the  door,  and 
after  recovering  an  upright  position,  proceeded  to 
entangle  himself  in  his  sword  again,  and  tumble 
into  a  chair.  I  happened  to  be  alone,  and  was,  of 
course,  very  much  frightened.  In  the  afternoon 
the  officers  met  in  one  of  their  quarters,  and  drew 
up  resolutions  that  gave  the  new  arrival  the  choice 
of  a  court-martial  or  his  resignation  before  night ; 
and  by  evening  he  had  written  out  the  papers  re- 
signing his  commission.  Another  fine-looking 
man,  whom  the  General  worked  long  and  faith- 
fully to  make  a  sober  officer,  had  really  some  good 
instincts.  He  was  so  glad  to  get  into  our  home 
circle,  and  was  so  social,  telling  the  drollest  stories 
of  far  Western  life,  where  he  had  lived  formerlyr 
that  I  became  greatly  interested  in  his  efforts  at 


A   THANKSGIVING  DINNER.  407 

reformation.  He  was  almost  the  first  to  be  court- 
martialed  for  drunkenness  on  duty,  and  that  was 
always  a  grief  to  us  ;  but  in  those  early  days  of 
our  regiment's  history,  arrest,  imprisonment  and 
trial  had  to  go  on  much  of  the  time.  The  officer  to 
whom  I  refer  was  getting  into  and  out  of  difficulty 
incessantly.  He  repented  in  such  a  frank,  regretful 
sort  of  way,  that  my  husband  kept  faith  in  his  final 
reformation  long  after  it  seemed  hopeless.  One  day 
I  asked  him  to  dinner.  It  was  Thanksgiving,  and 
on  those  days  we  tried  to  select  the  officers  that 
talked  most  to  us  of  their  homes  and  parents.  To 
my  dismay,  our  reprobate  came-into  the  room  with 
very  uncertain  gait.  The  other  men  looked  anx- 
iously at  him.  My  husband  was  not  in  the  parlor. 
I  thought  of  other  instances  where  these  signs  of 
intoxication  had  passed  away  in  a  little  while,  and 
tried  to  ignore  his  condition.  He  was  sober 
enough  to  see  the  concerned  look  in  his  comrades' 
faces,  and  brought  the  tears  to  my  eyes  by  walk- 
ing up  to  me  and  saying,  "  Mrs.  Custer,  I'm  sorry, 
but  I  think  it  would  be  best  for  me  to  go  home." 
Who  could  help  being  grieved  for  a  man  so  frank 
and  humble  over  his  failings  ?  There  were  six 
years  of  such  vicissitudes  in  this  unfortunate  man's 
life,  varied  by  brave  conduct  in  the  Indian  cam- 
paigns, before  the  General  gave  him  up.  He  vio- 
lated, at  last,  some  social  law  that  was  considered 


408  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

an  outrage  beyond  pardon,  which  compelled  his 
departure  from  the  Seventh.  That  first  winter 
while  the  General  was  trying  to  enforce  one  fact 
upon  the  new-comers,  that  the  Seventh  must  be  a 
sober  regiment,  it  was  a  difficult  and  anything 
but  pleasant  experience. 

Very  few  of  the  original  appointments  remained 
after  a  few  years.  Some  who  served  on  to  the 
final  battle  of  1876,  went  through  many  struggles 
in  gaining  mastery  of  themselves.  The  General 
believed  in  them,  and  they  were  such  splendid 
fighters,  and  such  fine  men  when  there  was  any- 
thing to  occupy  them,  I  know  that  my  husband 
appreciated  with  all  his  soul  what  trials  they  went 
through,  in  facing  the  monotony  of  frontier  life. 
Indeed,  he  was  himself  enduring  some  hours  of 
torture  from  restlessness  and  inactivity.  It  is 
hard  to  imagine  a  greater  change  than  from  the 
wild  excitement  of  the  Virginia  campaigns,  the 
final  scenes  of  the  war,  to  the  dullness  of  Fort 
Riley.  Oh  !  how  I  used  to  feel  when  my  hus- 
band's morning  duties  at  the  office  were  over,  and 
he  walked  the  floor  of  our  room,  saying,  "  Libbie, 
what  shall  I  do  ?"  There  were  no  books  to  speak 
of,  for  the  Seventh  was  then  too  new  a  regiment 
to  purchase  company  libraries,  as  we  did  later. 

.  .  .  My  husband  never  cared  much  for 
current  novels,  and  these  were  almost  the  sole 


GENERAL   CUSTER   AT   HIS   DESK    IN    HIS   LIBRARY. 
409 


4IO  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

literature  of  the  households  at  that  time.  At 
every  arrival  of  the  mail,  there  was  absolute  con- 
tentment for  a  while.  The  magazines  and  news- 
papers were  eagerly  read,  and  I  used  to  discover 
that  even  the  advertisements  were  scanned.  If 
the  General  was  caught  at  this,  and  accused  of  it, 
he  slid  behind  his  paper  in  mock  humility,  peep- 
ing roguishly  from  one  side  when  a  voice,  pitched 
loftily,  inquired  whether  reading  advertisements 
was  more  profitable  than  talking  with  one's  wife  ? 
It  was  hard  enough,  though,  when  the  heaps  of 
newspapers  lay  on  the  floor  all  devoured,  and  one 
so  devoted  to  them  as  he  was  condemned  to  wait 
the  slow  arrival  of  another  mail.  The  Harper  s 
Bazar  fashion-pages  were  not  scorned  in  that 
dearth  of  reading,  by  the  men  about  our  fireside. 
We  had  among  us  a  famous  newspaper-reader  ; 
the  men  could  not  outstrip  her  in  extracting 
everything  that  the  paper  held,  and  the  General 
delighted  in  hunting  up  accounts  of  "  rapscal- 
lions "  from  her  native  State,  cutting  out  the 
paragraphs,  and  sending  them  to  her  by  an  or- 
derly. But  his  hour  of  triumph  was  brief,  for  the 
next  mail  was  sure  to  contain  an  account  of  either 
a  Michigan  or  an  Ohio  villain,  and  the  prompt- 
ness with  which  General  Custer  was  made  aware 
of  the  vagabondage  of  his  fellow-citizens  was 
highly  appreciated  by  all  of  us.  He  had  this  dis- 


NE  WSPA  PER  DE  VO  TEES.  4 1  r 

advantage  :  he  was  a  native  of  Ohio,  and  appointed 
to  the  Military  Academy  from  there,  and  that 
State  claimed  him,  and  very  proud  we  were  to 
have  them  do  so  ;  but  Michigan  was  the  State  of 
his  adoption  during  the  war,  he  having  married 
there  and  it  being  the  home  of  his  celebrated 
"  Michigan  brigade."  ...  He  was  enabled, 
by  that  bright  woman's  industry,  to  ascertain 
what  a  large  share  of  the  population  of  those 
States  were  adepts  in  crime,  as  no  trifling  account, 
or  even  a  pickpocket,  was  overlooked.  I  remem- 
ber how  we  laughed  at  her  one  day.  This  friend 
of  ours  was  not  in  the  least  sensational,  she  was 
the  very  incarnation  of  delicate  refinement.  All 
her  reading  (aside  from  the  search  for  Ohio  and 
Michigan  villains  in  the  papers)  was  of  the  lofti- 
est type  ;  but  the  blood  rose  in  wild  billows  over 
her  sweet  face  when  her  son  declared  his  mother 
such  a  newspaper  devotee  that  he  had  caught 
her  reading  the  "  personals."  We  knew  it  was  a 
fib  ;  but  it  proves  to  what  lengths  a  person  might 
go  from  sheer  desperation,  when  stranded  on  the 
Plains. 

Fortunately,  I  was  not  called  much  from  home, 
as  there  were  few  social  duties  that  winter,  and  we 
devised  all  sorts  of  trumpery  expedients  to  vary 
our  life.  There  was  usually  a  wild  game  of  romps 
before  the  day  was  ended.  We  had  the  strangest 


412  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

neighbors.  A  family  lived  on  each  floor,  but  the 
walls  were  not  thick,  as  the  Government  had 
wasted  no  material  in  putting  up  our  plain  quar- 
ters. We  must  have  set  their  nerves  on  edge,  I 
suppose,  for  while  we  tore  up  stairs  and  down, 
using  the  furniture  for  temporary  barricades 
against  each  other,  the  dogs  barking  and  racing 
around,  glad  to  join  in  the  fracas,  the  din  was 
frightful. 

The  neighbors — not  belonging  to  our  regiment, 
I  am  thankful  to  say,  having  come  from  a  circle 
where  the  husband  brings  the  wife  to  terms  by 
brute  force — in  giving  a  minute  description  of  the 
sounds  that  issued  from  our  quarters,  accounted 
for  the  melee  to  those  of  the  garrison  they  could 
get  to  listen,  by  saying  that  the  commanding 
officer  was  beating  his  wife.  While  I  was  inclined 
to  resent  such  accusations,  they  struck  the  Gene- 
ral very  differently.  He  thought  it  was  intensely 
funny,  and  the  gossip  passed  literally  in  at  one 
ear  and  out  at  the  other,  though  it  dwelt  with  him 
long  enough  to  suggest  something  about  the  good 
discipline  a  man  might  have  if  the  Virginia  law, 
never  repealed,  were  now  in  vogue.  I  felt  sure  it 
would  fare  badly  with  me ;  for  though  the  dimen- 
sions of  the  stick  with  which  a  man  is  permitted 
to  beat  his  wife  are  limited  to  the  size  of  the  hus- 
band's finger,  my  husband's  hands,  though  in  good 


AFFECTED  GENTILITY.  413 

proportion,  had  fingers  the  bones  of  which  were 
unusually  large.  These  strange  fingers  were  not 
noticeable  until  one  took  hold  of  them ;  but  if 
they  were  carefully  studied,  with  the  old  English 
law  of  Virginia  in  mind,  there  well  might  be  a 
family  mutiny.  I  tried  to  beg  off  from  further 
visits  to  certain  families  of  this  stamp,  but  never 
succeeded ;  the  General  insisted  on  my  going 
everywhere.  One  of  the  women  asked  me  one 
day  if  I  rose  early :  Not  knowing  why  she  asked, 
I  replied  that  I  feared  it  was  often  9  o'clock 
before  we  awoke,  whereupon  she  answered,  in  an 
affected  voice,  that  "she  never  rose  early,  it  was 
so  plebeian." 

It  was  very  discouraging,  this  first  encounter 
with  what  I  supposed  would  be  my  life-long  asso- 
ciates. There  were  many  political  appointments 
in  the  army  then.  Each  State  was  entitled  to  its 
quota,  and  they  were  frequently  given  for  favor- 
itism, regardless  of  soldierly  qualities.  There 
were  also  a  good  many  non-commissioned  officers, 
who,  having  done  good  service  during  the  war, 
were  given  commissions  in  the  new  regiments. 
For  several  years  it  was  difficult  to  arrange  every- 
thing so  satisfactorily  in  social  life  that  no  one's 
feelings  would  be  hurt.  The  unvarying  rule, 
which  my  husband  considered  should  not  be  vio- 
lated by  any  who  truly  desired  harmony,  was  to 


414  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

visit  every  one  in  our  circle,  and  exclude  no  one 
from  invitations  to  our  house,  unless  for  positively 
disgraceful  conduct. 

We  heard,  from  other  posts,  of  the  most  amusing 
and  sometimes  the  most  uncomfortable  of  expe- 
riences. If  I  knew  any  one  to  whom  this  incident 
occurred,  I  should  not  venture  to  make  use  of  it 
as  an  example  of  the  embarrassing  situations  in 
the  new  order  of  affairs  in  the  reorganized  army. 
The  story  is  true  ;  but  the  names,  if  I  ever  knew 
them,  have  long  since  faded  out  of  memory. 
One  of  the  Irish  laundresses  at  a  Western  post 
was  evidently  infatuated  with  army  life,  as  she 
was  the  widow  of  a  volunteer  officer — doubtless 
some  old  soldier  of  the  regular  army,  who  held  a 
commission  in  one  of  the  regiments  during  the 
war — and  the  woman  drew  the  pension  of  a 
major's  widow.  Money,  therefore,  could  not 
have  been  the  inducement  that  brought  her  back 
to  a  frontier  post.  At  one  time  she  left  her  fasci- 
nating clothes-line  and  went  into  the  family  of  an 
officer,  to  cook,  but  was  obliged  to  leave  from 
illness.  Her  place  was  filled  satisfactorily,  and 
when  she  recovered  and  came  back  to  the  officer's 
wife,  she  was  told  that  the  present  cook  was  en- 
tirely satisfactory,  but  she  might  yet  find  a  place, 
as  another  officer's  wife  (whose  husband  had  been 
an  enlisted  man,  and  had  lately  been  appointed 


SURPRISE  AT  SURROUNDINGS. 


415 


an  officer  in  the  regular  regiment  stationed  there) 
needed  a  cook.  It  seems  that  this  officer's  wife 
also  had  been  a  laundress  at  one  time,  and  the 
woman  applying  for  work  squared  herself  off  in 
an  independent  manner,  placed  her  arms  akimbo, 
and  announced  her  platform :  "  Mrs.  Blank,  I 
ken  work  for  a  leddy,  but  I  can't  go  there  ;  there 

was  a  time  when  Mrs. and  I  had  our  toobs 

side  by  side." 

How  often,  in  that  first  winter,  I  thought  of  my 
father's  unstinted  praise  of  the  regular  army,  as 
he  had  known  it  at  Sackett's  Harbor  and  at  De- 
troit, in  Michigan's  early  days.  I  could  not  but 
wonder  what  he  would  think,  to  be  let  down  in 
the  midst  of  us.  He  used  to  say,  in  reference  to 
my  future,  "  Daughter,  marrying  into  the  army, 
you  will  be  poor  always  ;  but  I  count  it  infinitely 
preferable  to  riches  with  inferior  society.  It  con- 
soles me  to  think  you  will  be  always  associated 
with  people  of  refinement."  Meanwhile,  the  Gen- 
eral was  never  done  begging  me  to  be  silent 
about  any  new  evidences  of  vulgarity.  There 
were  several  high-bred  women  at  Fort  Riley  ;  but 
they  were  so  discreet  I  never  knew  but  that  they 
had  been  accustomed  to  such  associations,  until 
after  the  queer  lot  had  departed  and  we  dared  to 
speak  confidentially  to  one  another. 

Soon  after  the  officers  began  to  arrive  in  the 


41 6  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

autumn,  an  enlisted  man,  whom  the  General  had 
known  about  in  the  regular  army,  reported 
for  duty.  He  had  re-enlisted  in  the  Seventh, 
hoping  ultimately  for  a  commission.  He  was, 
soldierly  in  appearance,  from  his  long  experience 
in  military  life,  and  excellently  well  versed  in 
tactics  and  regimental  discipline.  On  this  account 
he  was  made  sergeant-major,  the  highest  non- 
commissioned officer  of  a  regiment ;  and,  at  his 
request,  the  General  made  application  almost  at 
once  for  his  appointment  as  a  lieutenant  in  the 
Seventh  Cavalry.  The  application  was  granted, 
•and  the  sergeant-major  went  to  Washington  to 
be  examined.  The  examining  board  was  com- 
posed of  old  and  experienced  officers,  who  were 
reported  to  be  opposed  to  the  appointment  of  en- 
listed men.  At  any  rate,  the  applicant  was  asked 
a  collection  of  questions  that  were  seemingly  un- 
answerable. I  only  remember  one,  "What  does  a 
regiment  of  cavalry  weigh  ? "  Considering  the 
differences  in  the  size  of  officers,  men  and  horses, 
it  would  seem  as  if  a  correct  answer  were  im- 
possible. The  sergeant-major  failed,  and  returned 
to  our  post  with  the  hopelessness  before  him  of 
five  years  of  association  with  men  in  the  ranks  ; 
for  there  is  no  escaping  the  whole  term  of  enlist- 
ment, unless  it  is  found  that  a  man  is  under  age. 
But  the  General  did  not  give  up.  He  encouraged 


A  SOLDIER  PROMOTED.  417 

the  disappointed  man  to  hope,  and  when  he  was 
ordered  before  the  board  himself,  he  went  to  the 
Secretary  of  War  and  made  personal  application 
for  the  appointment.  Washington  was  then  full 
of  men  and  their  friends,  clamoring  for  the  vacan- 
cies in  the  new  regiments  ;  but  General  Custer 
was  rarely  in  Washington,  and  was  guarded  in 
not  making  too  many  appeals,  so  he  obtained 
the  promise,  and  soon  afterward  the  sergeant- 
major  replaced  the  chevrons  with  shoulder-straps. 
Then  ensued  one  of  those  awkward  situations,  that 
seem  doubly  so  in  a  life  where  there  is  such  marked 
distinction  in  the  social  standing  of  an  officer  and 
a  private  ;  and  some  of  the  Seventh  Cavalry  made 
the  situation  still  more  embarrassing  by  conspicu- 
ous avoidance  of  the  new  lieutenant,  carefully 
ignoring  bim  except  where  official  relations  ex- 
isted. This  seemed  doubly  severe,  as  they  knew 
of  nothing  in  the  man's  conduct,  past  or  present, 
to  justify  them  in  such  behavior.  He  had  borne 
himself  with  dignity  as  sergeant-major,  living  very 
much  to  himself,  and  performing  every  duty  punc- 
tiliously. Shortly  before,  he  had  been  an  officer  like 
themselves  in  the  volunteer  service,  and  this  social 
ostracism,  solely  on  account  of  a  few  months  of  ser- 
vice as  an  enlisted  man,  was  absurd.  They  went 
back  to  his  early  service  as  a  soldier,  determined 
to  show  him  that  he  was  not  "to  the  manner  born." 


41 8  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

The  single  men  had  established  a  mess,  and  each 
bachelor  officer  who  came  was  promptly  called 
upon  and  duly  invited  to  join  them  at  table.  There 
was  literally  no  other  place  to  be  fed.  There  were 
no  cooks  to  be  had  in  that  unsettled  land,  and  if 
there  had  been  servants  to  hire,  the  exorbitant 
wages  would  have  consumed  a  lieutenant's  pay. 
There  were  enough  officers  in  the  bachelors'  mess 
to  carry  the  day  against  the  late  sergeant-major. 
My  husband  was  much  disturbed  by  this  discour- 
teous conduct ;  but  it  did  not  belong  to  the  prov- 
ince of  the  commanding  officer,  and  he  was  careful 
to  keep  the  line  of  demarkation  between  social 
and  official  affairs  distinct.  Yet  it  did  not  take 
long  for  him  to  think  a  way  out  of  the  dilemma, 
He  came  to  me  to  ask  if  I  would  be  willing  tc 
have  him  in  our  family  temporarily,  and,  of  course, 
it  ended  in  the  invitation  being  given.  In  the 
evening,  when  our  quarters  filled  up  with  the 
bachelor  officers,  they  found  the  lieutenant  whom 
they  had  snubbed,  established  as  one  of  the  com- 
manding officer's  family.  He  remained  as  one  of 
us  until  the  officers  formed  another  mess  as  their 
number  increased,  and  the  new  lieutenant  was  in- 
vited to  join  them.  This  was  not  the  end  of  Gen- 
eral Custer's  marked  regard  for  him,  and  as  long 
as  he  lived  he  showed  his  unswerving  friendship, 
and,  in  ways  that  the  officer  never  knew,  kept  up 


LOYALTY  TO  FRIENDS.  4 1 9 

his  disinterested  loyalty,  making-  me  sure,  as 
years  advanced,  that  he  was  worthy  of  the  old 
adage,  "  Once  a  friend,  always  a  friend."  Until 
he  was  certain  that  there  was  duplicity  and  in- 
gratitude, or  that  worst  of  sins,  concealed  enmity, 
he  kept  faith  and  friendships  intact.  At  that  time 
there  was  every  reason  in  the  world  for  an  officer 
whose  own  footing  was  uncertain,  and  who  owed 
everything  to  my  husband,  to  remain  true  to  him. 
Many  of  the  officers  were  learning  to  ride,  as 
they  had  either  served  in  the  infantry  during  the 
war,  or  were  appointed  from  civil  life,  and  came 
from  all  sorts  of  vocations.  It  would  seem  that 
hardly  half  of  the  number  then  knew  how  to  sit 
or  even  to  mount  a  horse,  and  the  grand  and  lofty 
tumbling  that  winter  kept  us  in  a  constant  state 
of  merriment.  It  was  too  bad  to  look  on  and 
laugh  ;  but  for  the  life  of  me  I  could  not  resist 
every  chance  I  had  to  watch  them  clambering  up 
their  horse's  side,  tying  themselves  hopelessly  in 
their  sabres,  and  contorting  their  heels  so  wildly 
that  the  restive  animal  got  the  benefit  of  a  spur  in 
unexpected  places,  as  likely  in  his  neck  as  in  his 
flank.  One  officer,  who  came  to  us  from  the 
merchant  marine,  used  to  insist  upon  saying  to 
his  brother  officers,  when  off  duty  and  experiment- 
ing with  his  steed,  "  If  you  don't  think  I  am  a 
sailor,  see  me  shin  up  this  horse's  foreleg." 


420  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

Some  grew  hot  and  wrathy  if  laughed  at,  and 
that  increased  our  fun.  Others  were  good-natured, 
even  coming  into  the  midst  of  us  and  deliberately 
narrating  the  number  of  times  the  horse  had  either 
slipped  from  under  them,  turned  them  off  over 
his  head,  or  wiped  them  off  by  running  against  a 
fence  or  tree-trunk.  Occasionally  somebody  tried 
to  hide  the  fact  that  he  had  been  thrown,  and  then 
there  was  high  carnival  over  the  misfortune.  The 
ancient  rule,  that  had  existed  as  far  back  as  the 
oldest  officer  could  remember,  was,  that  a  basket 
of  champagne  was  the  forfeit  of  a  first  fall.  Many 
hampers  were  emptied  that  winter  ;  but  as  there 
were  so  many  to  share  the  treat  (and  I  am  inclined 
to  think,  also,  it  was  native  champagne,  from 
St.  Louis),  I  don't  remember  any  uproarious 
results,  except  the  natural  wild  spirits  of  fun-lov- 
ing people.  After  the  secret  was  out  and  the  for- 
feit paid,  there  was  much  more  courage  among 
the  officers  in  letting  the  mishaps  be  known.  They 
did  not  take  their  nags  off  into  gulleys  where 
they  were  hidden  from  the  post,  and  have  it  out 
alone,  but  tumbled  off  in  sight  of  the  galleries  of 
our  quarters,  and  made  nothing  of  a  whole  after- 
noon of  voluntary  mounting  and  decidedly  invol- 
untary dismounting.  One  of  the  great  six-footers 
among  us  told  me  his  beast  had  tossed  him  off 
half  a  dozen  times  in  one  ride,  but  he  ended  by 


A  CONFESSION.  42! 

conquering.  He  daily  fought  a  battle  with  his 
horse,  and,  in  describing  the  efforts  to  unseat  him, 
said  that  at  last  the  animal  jumped  into  the  creek. 
How  I  admired  his  pluck  and  the  gleam  in  his 
eye;  and  what  a  glimpse  that  determination  to 
master  gave  of  his  successful  future  !  for  he  won 
in  resisting  temptation,  and  conquered  in  making 
himself  a  soldier,  and  his  life,  though  short,  was 
a  triumph. 

I  am  obliged  to  confess  that  to  this  day  I  owe 
a  basket  of  champagne,  for  I  belonged  to  those 
that  went  off  the  horse  against  their  will  and  then 
concealed  the  fact.  My  husband  and  one  of  his 
staff  were  riding  with  me  one  day,  and  asked  me 
to  go  on  in  advance,  as  they  wanted  to  talk  over 
something  that  was  not  of  interest  to  me.  I  for- 
got to  keep  watch  of  my  fiery  steed,  and  when  he 
took  one  of  those  mad  jumps  from  one  side  of 
the  road  to  the  other,  at  some  imaginary  obstacle, 
not  being  on  guard  I  lost  balance,  and  found  my- 
self hanging  to  the  saddle.  There  was  nothing 
left  for  me  but  an  ignominious  slide,  and  I  landed 
in  the  dust.  The  General  found  Phil  trotting 
riderless  toward  him,  was  terribly  frightened, 
and  rode  furiously  toward  where  I  was.  To  save 
him  needless  alarm,  I  called  out,  "  All  right !" 
from  my  lowly  position,  and  was  really  quite  un- 
harmed, save  my  crushed  spirits.  No  one  can 


422  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

serve  in  the  cavalry  and  not  feel  humiliated  by  a 
fall.  I  began  to  implore  the  two  not  to  tell,  and 
in  their  relief  at  my  escape  from  serious  hurt  they 
promised.  But  for  weeks  they  made  my  life  a 
burden  to  me,  by  direct  and  indirect  allusions  to 
the  accident  when  a  group  of  us  were  together. 
They  brought  little  All  Right,  the  then  famous 
Japanese  acrobat,  into  every  conversation,  and 
the  General  was  constantly  wondering,  in  a  seem- 
ingly innocent  manner,  "  how  an  old  campaigner 
could  be  unseated,  under  any  circumstances."  It 
would  have  been  better  to  confess  and  pay  the 
penalty,  than  to  live  thus  under  the  sword  of 
Damocles.  Still,  I  should  have  deprived  my 
husband  of  a  world  of  amusement,  and  every 
joke  counted  in  those  dull  days,  even  when  one 
was  himself  the  victim. 

The  Board  in  Washington  then  examining  the 
officers  of  the  new  regiments,  called  old  and  new 
alike ;  but  in  the  General's  case,  as  in  that  of  most 
of  the  officers  who  had  seen  service  before  the  war, 
or  were  West  Point  graduates,  it  was  but  a  form, 
and  he  was  soon  back  in  our  post. 

He  began  then  a  fashion  that  he  always  kept  up 
afterward,  of  having  regular  openings  of  his  trunk 
for  my  benefit.  I  was  as  interested  in  the  contents 
as  any  child.  First  putting  me  under  promise  to 
remain  in  one  spot  without  "  peeking,"  as  the  chil- 


A  PLEASANT  SURPRISE.  423 

dren  say,  he  took  out  from  the  trunk  in  our  room 
article  after  article  for  me.  They  comprised  every- 
thing a  woman  could  wear,  from  gowns  to  stock- 
ings, with  ribbons  and  hats.  If  all  the  gowns  he 
brought  were  not  made,  he  had  dress-materials  and 
stored-up  recollections  of  the  new  modes  of  trim- 
ming. He  enjoyed  jokes  on  himself,  and  gave  us 
all  a  laughable  description  of  his  discovering  in 
the  city  some  fashion  that  he  had  especially  liked, 
when,  turning  in  the  crowded  street,  he  followed 
at  a  respectful  distance  the  woman  wearing  it,  in 
order  to  commit  to  memory  the  especial  style. 
Very  naturally,  he  also  took  in  the  gait  and  fig- 
ure of  the  stylish  wearer,  even  after  he  had  fixed 
the  cut  of  her  gown  in  his  mind,  that  he  might 
eventually  transfer  it  to  me.  Ah,  how  we  torment- 
ed him  when  he  described  his  discomfiture,  and 
the  sudden  termination  of  his  walk,  when  a  tu/n 
in  the  street  revealed  the  face  of  a  negress ! 

I  shall  have  to  ask  that  a  thought  be  given  to 
our  surroundings,  to  make  clear  what  an  immense 
pleasure  a  trunk-full  of  finery  was  at  that  time. 
There  were  no  shops  nearer  than  Leavenworth, 
and  our  faces  were  set  westward,  so  there  seemed 
to  be  no  prospect  of  getting  such  an  outfit  for 
years.  There  was  no  one  in  that  far  country  to 
prevent  the  screams  of  delight  with  which  each 
gift  was  received,  and  it  is  impossible  to  describe 


424  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

how  jubilant  the  donor  was  over  the  success  of  his 
purchases.  Brother  Tom  made  a  time  always,  be- 
cause his  name  was  left  out,  but  he  noted  carefully 
if  the  General's  valise  held  a  new  supply  of  neck- 
ties, gloves,  etc.,  and  by  night  he  had  usually 
surreptitiously  transferred  the  entire  contents  to 
his  own  room.  The  first  notification  would  be  his 
appearance  next  morning  at  the  breakfast-table, 
wearing  his  brother's  new  things,  his  face  perfectly 
solemn  and  innocent,  as  if  nothing  peculiar  was 
going  on.  This  sort  of  game  never  grew  old,  and 
it  seemed  to  give  them  much  more  amusement 
than  if  the  purchases  were  formally  presented. 
My  husband  confided  to  me  that,  knowing  Tom 
would  take  all  he  could  lay  his  hands  on,  he  had 
bought  twice  as  many  as  he  needed.  The  truth 
is,  it  was  only  for  the  boyish  fun  they  got  out  of 
it,  for  he  always  shared  everything  he  had  with 
his  brother. 

At  some  point  in  the  journey  East,  the  General 
had  fallen  into  conversation  with  an  officer  who, 
in  his  exuberance  of  spirits  at  his  appointment  to 
the  Seventh,  had  volunteered  every  detail  about 
himself.  He  was  coming  from  his  examination  at 
Washington,  and  was  full  of  excitement  over  the 
new  regiment.  He  had  not  the  slightest  idea  who 
my  husband  was,  only  that  he  was  also  an  officer, 
but  in  the  course  of  conversation  brought  his  name 


A  CONFIDENTIAL  TRAVELER. 


425 


up,  giving  all  the  accounts  he  had  heard  of  him 
from  both  enemies  and  friends,  and  his  own  im- 
pressions of  how  he  should  like  him.  The  Gene- 
ral's love  of  mischief,  and  curiosity  to  hear  himself 
so  freely  discussed,  led  the  unsuspecting  man  to 
ramble  on  and  on,  incited  by  an  occasional  query 
or  reflection,  regarding  the  character  of  the  Lieu- 
tenant-colonel of  the  Seventh.  The  first  knowl- 
edge the  Lieutenant  had  with  whom  he  had  been 
talking,  was  disclosed  to  him  when  he  came  to  pay 
the  customary  call,  on  the  return  of  the  command- 
ing officer  at  Fort  Riley.  His  face  was  a  study  ; 
perplexity  and  embarrassment  reddened  his  com- 
plexion almost  to  a  purple,  and  he  moved  about 
uneasily  in  his  chair,  abashed  to  think  he  had 
allowed  himself  to  speak  so  freely  of  a  man  to 
that  person's  very  face.  My  husband  left  him  but 
a  moment  in  this  awkward  predicament,  and  then 
laughed  out  a  long  roll  of  merriment,  grasping  the 
man's  hand,  and  assured  him  that  he  must  re- 
member his  very  freely  expressed  views  were  the 
opinions  of  others,  and  not  his  own.  It  was  a 
great  relief  to  the  Lieutenant,  when  he  reached 
his  quarters,  to  find  that  he  had  escaped  some  dire 
fate,  either  long  imprisonment  or  slow  torture ; 
for  at  that  time  the  volunteer  officers  had  a  deeply 
fixed  terror  of  the  stern,  unflinching  seventy  of 
regular  officers.  Again,  he  became  confidential, 


426  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

and  told  the  bachelor  mess.  This  was  too  good  a 
chance  to  lose  ;  they  felt  that  some  more  fun  could 
still  be  extracted,  and  immediately  planned  a  sham 
trial.  The  good-natured  man  said  his  stupidity 
merited  it,  and  asked  for  counsel.  The  case  was 
spun  out  as  long  as  it  could  be  made  to  last.  We 
women  were  admitted  as  audience,  and  all  the 
grave  dignity  of  his  mock  affair  was  a  novelty. 

The  court  used  our  parlor  as  a  Hall  of  Justice. 
The  counsel  for  the  prisoner  was  as  earnest  in  his 
defense  as  if  great  punishment  was  to  be  averted 
by  his  eloquence.  In  the  daytime  he  prepared 
arguments,  while  at  the  same  time  the  prose- 
cuting attorney  wrinkled  his  brows  over  the  most 
convincing  assaults  on  the  poor  man,  who,  he 
vehemently  asserted,  ought  not  to  go  at  large, 
laden  with  such  unpardonable  crime.  The  judge 
addressed  the  jury,  and  that  solemn  body  of  men 
disappeared  into  our  room,  perching  on  the 
trunks,  the  bed,  the  few  chairs,  to  seriously  dis- 
cuss the  ominous  "  guilty  "  or  "  not  guilty."  The 
manner  of  the  grave  and  dignified  judge,  as  he 
finally  addressed  the  prisoner,  admonishing  him 
as  to  his  future,  sorrowfully  announcing  the  de- 
cision of  the  jury  as  guilty,  and  condemning  him 
to  the  penalty  of  paying  a  basket  of  champagne, 
was  worthy  of  the  chief  executor  of  an  Eastern 
court. 


FORMER  HISTORIES.  427 

We  almost  regretted  that  some  one  else  would 
not,  by  some  harmless  misdemeanor,  put  himself 
within  the  reach  of  such  a  court.  This  affair  gave 
us  the  first  idea  of  the  clever  men  among  us,  for 
all  tried  to  acquit  themselves  at  their  best,  even 
in  the  burlesque  trial. 

Little  by  little,  it  came  out  what  varied  lives 
our  officers  had  led  heretofore.  Some  frankly 
spoke  of  the  past,  as  they  became  acquainted, 
while  others,  making  an  effort  to  ignore  their  pre- 
vious history,  were  found  out  by  the  letters  that 
came  into  the  post  every  mail,  or  by  some  one 
arriving  who  had  known  them  in  their  other  life. 
The  best  bred  among  them — one  descended  from 
a  Revolutionary  colonel,  and  Governor  of  a  State, 
the  other  from  Alexander  Hamilton — were  the 
simplest  and  most  unaffected  in  manner.  The 
boaster  and  would-be  aristocrat  of  our  number 
had  the  misfortune  to  come  face-to-face  with  a 
townsman,  who  effectually  silenced  further  refer- 
ence to  his  gorgeous  past.  There  were  men  who 
had  studied  law  ;  there  was  one  who  had  been  a 
stump  speaker  in  Montana  politics,  and  at  last  a 
judge  in  her  courts ;  another  who  had  been  a  sea- 
captain,  and  was  distinguished  from  a  second  of 
his  name  in  the  regiment,  by  being  called  always 
thereafter  "  Salt  Smith,"  while  the  younger  was 
"  Fresh  Smith,"  or,  by  those  who  were  fond  of 


428  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

him,  "  Smithie."  There  was  also  a  Member  of 
Congress,  who,  having  returned  to  his  State  after 
the  war,  had  found  his  place  taken  and  himself 
quite  crowded  out.  When  this  officer  reported 
for  duty,  I  could  not  believe  my  eyes.  But  a  few 
months  before,  in  Texas,  he  had  been  such  a  bit- 
ter enemy  of  my  husband's,  that,  with  all  the  cau- 
tion observed  to  keep  official  matters  out  of  my 
life,  it  could  not  be  hidden  from  me.  The  Gen- 
eral, when  this  officer  arrived,  called  me  into  our 
room  and  explained,  that,  finding  him  without 
employment  in  Washington  when  he  went  before 
the  Board,  he  could  not  turn  away  from  his  appeal 
for  a  commission  in  the  service,  and  had  applied, 
without  knowing  he  would  be  sent  to  our  regi- 
ment. "And  now,  Libbie,  you  would  not  hurt 
my  feelings  by  showing  animosity  and  dislike  to 
a  man  whose  hair  is  already  gray  !"  There  was 
no  resisting  this  appeal,  and  no  disguising  my 
appreciation  of  the  manner  in  which  he  treated 
his  enemies,  so  his  words  brought  me  out  on  the 
gallery  with  extended  hand  of  welcome,  though  I 
would  sooner  have  taken  hold  of  a  tarantula.  I 
never  felt  a  moment's  regret,  and  he  never  forgot 
the  kindness,  or  that  he  owed  his  prosperity,  his 
whole  future,  in  fact,  to  the  General,  and  he  won 
my  regard  by  his  unswerving  fidelity  to  him  from 
that  hour  to  this. 


A  SOCIAL  POT.POURRI.  429 

There  were  some  lieutenants  fresh  from  West 
Point,  and  some  clerks,  too,  who  had  tried  to  turn 
themselves  into  merchants,  and  groaned  over  the 
wretched  hours  they  had  spent,  since  the  close  of 
the  war,  in  measuring  tape.  We  had  several  Irish 
officers — reckless  riders,  jovial  companions.  One 
had  served  in  the  Papal  army,  and  had  foreign 
medals.  There  was  an  Italian  who  had  a  long, 
strange  career  to  draw  upon  for  our  amusement,  and 
numbered,  among  his  experiences,  imprisonment 
for  plotting  the  life  of  his  king.  There  were  two 
officers  who  had  served  in  the  Mexican  War,  and 
the  ears  of  the  subalterns  were  always  opened  to 
their  stories  of  those  days  when,  as  lieutenants, 
they  followed  General  Scott  in  his  march  over  the 
old  Cortez  highway,  to  his  victories  and  con- 
quests. There  was  a  Prussian  among  the  officers, 
who,  though  expressing  his  approval  of  the  justice 
and  courtesy  that  the  commanding  officer  showed 
in  his  charge  of  the  garrison,  used  to  infuriate  the 
others  by  making  invidious  distinctions  regarding 
foreign  service  and  our  own.  We  had  an  edu- 
cated Indian  as  an  officer.  He  belonged  to  the 
Six  Nations,  and  his  father  was  a  Scotchman,  but 
there  was  no  Scotch  about  him,  except  that  he  was 
loyal  to  his  trusts  and  a  brave  soldier,  for  he 
looked  like  any  wild  man  of  the  Plains  ;  and  one  of 
his  family  said  to  him,  laughingly,  "  Dress  you  up 


430 


TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 


in  a  blanket,  and  you  couldn't  be  told  from  a 
Cheyenne  or  Arrapahoe."  There  was  a  French- 
man to  add  to  the  nationalities  we  represented, 
and  in  our  heterogeneous  collection  one  company 
might  have  its  three  officers  with  parentage  from 
three  of  the  four  corners  of  the  earth. 

The  immense  amount  of  rank  these  new  lieuten- 
ants and  captains  carried  was  amusing,  for  those 
who  had  served  in  the  war  still  held  their  titles 
when  addressed  unofficially,  and  it  was  to  all  ap- 
pearances a  regiment  made  up  of  generals,  colo- 
nels and  majors.  Occasionally,  an  officer  who  had 
served  in  the  regular  army  many  years  before  the 
war  arrogantly  lorded  it  over  the  young  lieuten- 
ants. One  especially,  who  saw  nothing  good  in 
the  service  as  it  now  was,  constantly  referred  to 
"  how  it  was  done  in  the  old  First."  Having  a 
young  fellow  appointed  from  civil  life  as  his  lieu- 
tenant, who  knew  nothing  of  army  tactics  or  eti- 
quette, he  found  a  good  subject  over  whom  to 
tyrannize.  He  gave  this  lad  to  understand  that, 
whenever  the  captain  made  his  appearance,  he 
must  jump  up,  offer  him  a  chair,  and  stand  atten- 
tion. It  was,  in  fact,  a  servile  life  he  was  mapping 
out  for  his  subordinate.  If  the  lad  asserted  him- 
self in  the  slightest  way,  the  captain  straightened 
up  that  Prussian  back-bone,  tapped  his  shoulder- 
strap,  and  grandiloquently  observed,  "  Remem- 


A  BULLY. 


431 


her  the  goolf "  [gulf],  meaning  the  great  chasm 
that  intervened  between  a  shoulder-strap  with  two 
bars  and  one  with  none.  Even  one  knowing  lit- 
tle of  military  life,  is  aware  that  the  "goolf"  be- 
tween a  captain  and  a  second  lieutenant  is  not  one 
of  great  magnitude.  At  last  the  youth  began  to  see 
that  he  was  being*  imposed  upon,  and  that  other 
captains  did  not  so  hold  themselves  toward  their 
inferiors  in  rank,  and  he  confidentially  laid  the 
case  before  a  new  arrival  who  had  seen  service,  ask- 
ing him  how  much  of  a  stand  he  might  make  for 
his  self-respect,  without  infringing  on  military 
rules.  The  reply  was,  "When  next  he  tries  that 
game  on  you,  tell  him  to  go  to  h —  with  his 
gulf."  The  young  fellow,  not  lacking  in  spirit, 
returned  to  his  captain  well  primed  for  the  en- 
counter, and  when  next  the  gulf  was  mentioned, 
he  stretched  up  his  six  feet  of  admirable  physique, 
and  advised  the  captain  to  take  the  journey  "  with 
his  gulf,"  that  had  been  previously  suggested  by 
his  friend. 

This  same  young  fellow  was  a  hot  -  headed 
youth,  though  a  splendid  soldier,  and  had  a  knack 
of  getting  into  little  altercations  with  his  brother- 
officers.  On  one  occasion,  at  our  house  during  a 
garrison  hop  he  and  another  officer  had  some  dis- 
pute about  dancing  with  a  young  lady,  and  retired 
to  the  coat-room,  too  courteous  to  enter  into  a 


432  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

discussion  in  the  presence  of  women.  It  occurred 
to  them,  as  words  grew  hotter  and  insufficient  for 
the  gravity  of  the  occasion,  that  it  would  be 
well  to  interview  the  commanding  officer,  fearing 
that  they  might  be  placed  in  arrest.  One  of  them 
descended  to  the  dancing-room,  called  the  Gen- 
eral one  side,  told  the  story,  and  asked  permission 
to  pound  his  antagonist,  whom  he  considered  the 
aggressor.  The  General,  knowing  well  how  it 
was  himself,  having,  at  West  Point,  been  known 
as  the  cadet  who  said,  "  Stand  back,  boys,  and 
let's  have  a  fair  fight !  "  gave  his  permission.  The 
door  of  the  coat-room  closed  on  the  contestants 
for  the  fair  lady's  favor,  and  they  had  it  out  alone. 
It  must  not,  from  this  incident,  be  inferred  that 
our  officers  belonged  to  a  class  whose  idea  of  jus- 
tice was  "  knocking  down  and  dragging  out,"  but, 
in  the  newness  of  our  regiment,  there  seemed  to 
be  occasions  when  there  was  no  recourse  for  im- 
positions or  wrongs,  except  in  the  natural  way. 
The  mettle  of  all  was  being  tested,  with  a  large 
number  of  men  turned  suddenly  from  a  free  life 
into  the  narrow  limits  of  a  garrison.  Where 
everybody's  elbow  knocked  his  neighbor's,  and  no 
one  could  wholly  escape  the  closest  sort  of  inter- 
course, it  was  the  most  natural  consequence  that 
some  jarring  and  grating  went  on. 

None  of  us  know  how  much  the  good-nature  that 


DIFFICUL  TIES  OF  ORGANIZA  TION  43 3 

we  possess  is  due  to  the  fact  that  we  can  take 
refuge  in  our  homes  or  in  flight,  sometimes,  from 
people  who  rasp  and  rub  us  up  the  wrong  way. 

Our  regiment  was  then  a  medley  of  incongruous 
elements,  and  might  well  have  discouraged  a  less 
persevering  man,  in  the  attempt  to  mold  such 
material  into  an  harmonious  whole.  From  the 
first,  the  effort  was  to  establish  among  the  better 
men,  who  had  ambition,  the  proper  esprit  de  corps 
regarding  their  regiment.  The  General  thought 
over  carefully  the  future  of  this  new  organization, 
and  worked  constantly  from  the  first  days  to 
make  it  the  best  cavalry  regiment  in  the  service. 
He  assured  me,  when  occasionally  I  mourned  the 
inharmonious  feeling  that  early  began  to  crop  out, 
that  I  must  neither  look  for  fidelity  nor  friendship, 
in  its  best  sense,  until  the  whole  of  them  had  been 
in  a  fight  together ;  that  it  was  on  the  battle-field, 
when  all  faced  death  together,  where  the  truest 
affection  was  formed  among  soldiers.  I  could  not 
help  noting,  that  first  year,  the  change  from  the 
devotion  of  my  husband's  Division  of  cavalry  in 
the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  to  these  new  officers, 
who,  as  yet,  had  no  affection  for  him,  nor  even  for 
their  regiment.  He  often  asked  me  to  have  pa- 
tience, not  to  judge  too  quickly  of  those  who  were 
to  be  our  companions,  doubtless  for  years  to  come, 
and  reminded  me  that,  as  yet,  he  had  done  nothing 


434  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

to  win  their  regard  or  command  their  respect ;  he 
had  come  among  officers  and  men  as  an  organizer, 
a  disciplinarian,  and  it  was  perfectly  natural  they 
should  chafe  under  restraints  they  had  never 
known  before.  It  was  a  hard  place  for  my  hus- 
band to  fill,  and  a  most  thankless  task,  to  bring 
that  motley  crowd  into  military  subjection.  The 
mischief-makers  attempted  to  report  unpleasant 
criticisms,  and  it  was  difficult  to  keep  in  subjec- 
tion the  jealousy  that  existed  between  West  Point 
graduates,  volunteer  officers,  and  civil  appointees. 
Of  course  a  furtive  watch  was  kept  on  the 
graduates  of  the  Military  Academy  for  any 
evidences  of  assumed  superiority  on  their  part,  or 
for  the  slightest  dereliction  of  duty.  The  volun- 
teer, no  matter  how  splendid  a  record  he  had  made 
during  the  war,  was  excessively  sensitive  regard- 
ing the  fact  that  he  was  not  a  graduated  officer. 
My  husband  persistently  fought  against  any  line 
of  demarkation  between  graduates  and  non- 
graduates.  He  argued  personally,  and  wrote  for 
publication,  that  the  war  had  proved  the  volunteer 
officers  did  just  as  good  service  as,  and  certainly 
were  not  one  whit  less  brave  than,  West  Pointers. 
I  remember  how  every  little  slip  of  a  West  Pointer 
was  caught  at  by  the  others.  One  morning  a 
group  of  men  were  gathered  about  the  flag-staff  at 
guard-mount,  making  the  official  report  as  officer 


A  SLIP  OF  THE  TONGUE.  435 

of  the  day  and  officer  of  the  guard,  when  a  West 
Pointer  joined  them  in  the  irreproachable  uniform 
of  a  lieutenant,  walking  as  few  save  graduates 
ever  do  walk.  He  gravely  saluted,  but,  instead 
of  reporting  for  duty,  spoke  out  of  the  fullness  of 
his  heart,  "  Gentlemen,  it's  a  boy."  Of  course,  not  a 
man  among  them  was  insensible  to  the  honor  of 
being  the  father  of  a  first  son  and  heir,  and  all 
suspended  military  observances  belonging  to  the 
morning  duties,  and  genuinely  rejoiced  with  the 
new-made  parent  ;  but  still  they  gloated  over  the 
fact  that  there  had  been,  even  in  such  a  moment 
of  excitement,  this  lapse  of  military  dignity  in  one 
who  was  considered  a  cut-and-dried  soldier. 

An  embarrassing  position  for  General  Custer 
was,  that  he  had  under  him  officers  much  older 
than  himself.  He  was  then  but  twenty-seven 
years  of  age,  and  the  people  who  studied  to  make 
trouble  (and  how  rarely  are  they  absent  from 
any  community  ?)  used  this  fact  as  a  means  of 
stirring  up  dissension.  How  thankful  I  was  that 
nothing  could  draw  him  into  difficulty  from  that 
question,  for  he  either  refused  to  listen,  or  heard 
only  to  forget.  One  day  he  was  deeply  moved 
by  the  Major  of  our  regiment,  General  Alfred 
Gibbs,  who  had  commanded  the  brigade  of  regu- 
lar cavalry  in  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  during 
the  war,  and  whose  soul  was  so  broad  and  his 


436  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

heart  so  big  that  he  was  above  everything  petty 
or  mean.  My  husband  called  me  into  our  room 
and  shut  the  door,  in  order  to  tell  me,  quietly,  that 
some  gossip  had  endeavored  to  spread  a  report 
that  General  Gibbs  was  galled  by  his  position,  and 
unwilling  to  submit  to  the  authority  of  so  young 
a  man.  On  hearing  this,  he  came  straightway  to 
General  Custer — ah,  what  worlds  of  trouble  we 
would  be  saved  if  there  were  courage  to  inquire 
into  slander ! — and  in  the  most  earnest,  frank 
manner  assured  him  that  he  had  never  expressed 
such  sentiments,  and  that  their  years  of  service 
together  during  the  war  had  established  an  abid- 
ing regard  for  his  soldierly  ability,  that  made  it  a 
pleasure  to  be  in  his  regiment.  This,  from  an 
officer  who  had  served  with  distinction  in  the 
Mexican  War,  as  well  as  done  gallant  service 
in  an  Indian  campaign  before  the  Civil  War, 
was  a  most  grateful  compliment  to  my  hus- 
band. General  Gibbs  was  a  famous  disciplinarian, 
and  he  had  also  the  quaintest  manner  of  fetching 
every  one  to  the  etiquettical  standard  he  knew 
to  be  necessary.  He  was  witty,  and  greatly  given 
to  joking,  and  yet  perfectly  unswerving  in  the 
performance  of  the  most  insignificant  duty.  We 
have  exhausted  ourselves  with  laughter  as  he  de- 
scribed, by  contortions  of  feature  and  really 
extraordinary  facial  gymnastics,  his  efforts  to 


A  MODEL  DISCIPLINARIAN.  437 

dislodge  a  venturesome  and  unmilitary  fly,  that 
had  perched  on  his  nose  when  he  was  conducting 
a  dress-parade.  To  lift  his  hand  and  brush  off 
the  intruder,  with  a  long  line  of  soldiers  facing 
him,  was  an  example  he  would  scarcely  like  them 
to  follow  ;  and  yet  the  tantalizing  tickling  of 
those  fly-legs,  slowly  traveling  over  his  moist  and 
heated  face,  was  almost  too  exasperating  to  en- 
dure. If  General  Gibbs  felt  the  necessity  of 
reminding  any  one  of  carelessness  in  dress,  it  was 
managed  in  so  clever  a  manner  that  it  gave  no 
lasting  offense.  My  husband,  absorbed  in  the 
drilling,  discipline  and  organization  of  the  regi- 
ment, sometimes  overlooked  the  necessity  for 
social  obligations,  and  immediately  came  under 
the  General's  witty  criticisms.  If  a  strange  officer 
visited  our  post,  and  any  one  neglected  to  call,  as  is 
considered  obligatory,  it  was  remarked  upon  by 
our  etiquettical  mentor.  If  the  officers  were  care- 
less in  dress,  or  wore  semi  -  military  clothes, 
something  quite  natural  in  young  fellows  who 
wanted  to  load  on  everything  that  glittered, 
our  General  Etiquette  made  mention  of  it.  One 
wore  an  English  forage-cap  with  a  lot  of  gilt 
braid  on  top,  instead  of  the  plain  visored  cap  of 
the  regulations.  The  way  he  came  to  know  that 
this  innovation  must  be  suppressed,  was  by  a  re- 
quest from  General  Gibbs  to  purchase  it  for  his 


438  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

band-master.  He  himself  was  so  strictly  military 
that  he  could  well  afford  to  hold  the  others  up  to 
the  mark.  His  coats  were  marvelous  fits,  and 
he  tightly  buckled  in  his  increasing  rotundity 
with  a  superb  belt  and  clasp  that  had  belonged 
to  his  grandfather,  a  Wolcott  in  the  Revolution- 
ary War. 

Most  women  know  with  what  obstinate  deter- 
mination and  adoring  fondness  a  man  clings  to 
some  shabby  article  of  wearing  apparel.  There 
was  in  our  family  an  ancient  dressing-gown,  not 
the  jaunty  smoking-jacket  that  I  fortunately 
learned  afterward  to  make,  but  a  long,  clumsy, 
quilted  monstrosity  that  I  had  laboriously  cobbled 
out  with  very  ignorant  fingers.  My  husband 
simply  worshipped  it.  The  garment  appeared 
on  one  of  his  birthdays,  and  I  was  praised  be- 
yond my  deserts  for  having  .put  in  shape  such  a 
success,  and  he  could  hardly  slide  out  of  his 
uniform,  when  he  came  from  the  office,  quickly 
enough  to  enable  him  to  jump  into  this  soft, 
loose,  abomination.  If  he  had  vanity,  which  it 
is  claimed  is  lodged  somewhere  in  every  human 
breast,  it  was  spasmodic,  for  he  not  only  knew 
that  he  looked  like  a  fright,  but  his  family  told 
him  this  fact,  with  repeated  variations  of  derision. 
When  at  last  it  became  not  even  respectable,  it 
was  so  ragged  I  attempted  to  hide  it,  but  this 


RIDICULE  WORKS  A  REFORM. 


439 


did  no  earthly  good.  The  beloved  possession  was 
ferreted  out,  and  he  gaily  danced  up  and  down  in 
triumph  before  his  discomfited  wife,  all  the  rags 
and  tags  flaunting  out  as  he  moved.  In  vain 
General  Gibbs  asked  me  why  I  allowed  such  a 
disgraceful  "old  man's  garment"  about.  The 
truth  was,  there  was  not  half  the  discipline  in  our 
family  that  there  might  have  been  had  we  been 
citizens.  A  woman  cannot  be  expected  to  keep 
a  man  up  to  the  mark  in  every  little  detail,  and 
surely  she  may  be  excused  if  she  do  a  little 
spoiling  when,  after  months  of  separation  she  is 
returned  to  the  one  for  whom  her  heart  has  been 
wrung  with  anxiety.  No  sooner  are  you  to- 
gether than  there  comes  the  ever  present  terror 
of  being  divided  again. 

General  Gibbs  won  at  last  in  suppressing  the 
old  dressing-gown,  for  he  begged  General  Custer 
to  picture  to  himself  the  appearance  of  his  entire 
regiment  clad  in  long-tailed,  ragged  gowns 
modeled  after  that  of  their  commanding  officer ! 
In  dozens  of  ways  General  Gibbs  kept  us  up  to  the 
mark  socially.  He  never  drew  distinctions  be- 
tween the  old  army  and  the  new,  as  some  were 
wont  to  do,  and  his  influence  in  shaping  our  regi- 
ment in  social  as  well  as  military  affairs  was  felt 
in  a  marked  manner,  and  we  came  to  regard  him 
as  an  authority  and  to  value  his  suggestions. 


CHAPTER   XIV. 

RISTORI,     AND    THE    COURSE    OF    TRUE    LOVE A    PRO- 
POSAL   ON    THE    HOUSE-TOP GIDEON'S    BAND A 

LETTER  FROM    CHARLES    G.  LELANIJ BREITMANN 

IN    KANSAS CLEVER  ROGUES    ESCAPE    FROM    THE 

GUARD-HOUSE — -MARKETING  IN    JUNCTION    CITY 

CROSSING     A     SWOLLEN     RIVER THE     STORY      OF 

JOHNNIE AN    EXPEDITION    LEAVES    FORT     RILEY 

FOR  A  CAMPAIGN. 

COON  after  my  husband  returned  from  Wash- 
ington, he  found  that  Ristori  was  advertised 
in  St.  Louis,  and  as  he  had  been  delighted  with 
her  acting  when  in  the  East,  he  insisted  upon  my 
going  there,  though  it  was  a  j'ourney  of  several 
hundred  miles.  The  young  officers  urged,  and 
the  pretty  Diana  looked  volumes  of  entreaty  at 
me,  so  at  last  I  consented  to  go,  as  we  need  be 
absent  but  a  few  days.  At  that  time  the  dreaded 
campaign  looked  far  off,  and  I  was  trying  to 
cheat  myself  into  the  belief  that  there  might  pos- 
sibly be  none  at  all. 

Ristori,  heard  under  any  circumstances,  was  an 
event  in  a  life  ;  but  to  listen  to  her  as  we  did,  the 
only  treat  of  the  kind  in  our  winter,  and  feeling 


44° 


THE  COURSE  OF  TRUE  LOVE.  441 

almost  certain  it  was  the  last  of  such  privileges 
for  years  to  come,  was  an  occasion  never  to  be 
forgotten. 

I  do  not  know  whether  Diana  collected  her 
senses  enough  to  know,  at  any  one  time,  that  she 
was  listening  to  the  most  gifted  woman  in 
histrionic  art.  A  civilian  lover  had  appeared  on 
the  scene,  and  between  our  young  officers,  already 
far  advanced  in  the  dazed  and  enraptured  state, 
and  the  new  addition  to  her  retinue,  she  was  never 
many  moments  without  "airy  nothings"  poured 
into  her  ear.  The  citizen  and  the  officers 
glowered  on  each  other,  and  sought  in  vain  to 
monopolize  the  inamorata.  Even  when  the 
thoughtless  girl  put  a  military  cap  on  the  head  of 
the  civilian,  and  told  him  that  an  improvement  in 
his  appearance  was  instantly  visible,  he  still  re- 
mained and  held  his  ground  valiantly.  Finally 
the  most  desperate  of  them  called  me  to  one  side, 
and  implored  my  championship.  He  com- 
plained bitterly  that  he  never  began  to  say  what 
trembled  on  his  tongue,  but  one  of  those  interfer- 
ing fellows  appeared  and  interrupted  him,  and 
now,  as  the  time  was  passing,  there  remained  but 
one  chance  before  we  went  home,  where  he  would 
again  be  among  a  dozen  other  men  who  were  sure 
to  get  in  his  way.  He  said  he  had  thought  over 
every  plan,  and  if  I  would  engage  the  interfering 


442  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

ones  for  a  half  hour,  he  would  take  Diana 
to  the  hotel  cupola,  ostensibly  to  see  the  view 
and  if,  after  they  were  up  there,  she  saw  anything 
but  him,  it  would  not  be  his  fault,  for  say  his  say 
he  must.  No  one  could  resist  such  a  piteous  ap- 
peal, so  I  engaged  the  supernumerary  men  in 
conversation  as  best  I  could,  talking  against  time 
and  eyeing  the  door  as  anxiously  as  they  did.  I 
knew,  when  the  pair  returned,  that  the  pent-up 
avowal  had  found  utterance ;  but  the  coquetting 
lass  had  left  him  in  such  a  state  of  uncertainty 
that  even  "  fleeing  to  the  house-top"  had  not  se- 
cured his  future.  So  it  went  on,  suspense 
and  agitation  increasing  in  the  perturbed  hearts, 
but  the  dallying  of  this  coy  and  skillful  strate- 
gist, wise  beyond  her  years  in  some  ways, 
seemed  to  prove  that  she  believed  what  is  often 
said,  that  a  man  is  more  blissful  in  uncertainty 
than  in  possession. 

Our  table  was  rarely  without  guests  at  that 
time.  A  great  many  of  the  strangers  came  with 
letters  of  introduction  to  us,  and  the  General 
superintended  the  arrangements  for  buffalo-hunts, 
if  they  were  to  be  in  the  vicinity  of  our  post. 
Among  the  distinguished  visitors  was  Prince 
Ourosoff,  nephew  of  the  Emperor  of  Russia.  He 
was  but  a  lad,  and  only  knew  that  if  he  came 
west  far  enough,  he  was  very  likely  to  find  what 


STRANGERS  WITHIN  THE  GATES.  443 

the  atlas  put  down  as  the  "  Great  American 
Desert."  None  of  us  could  tell  him  much  more 
of  the  Sahara  of  America  than  of  his  own  step- 
pes in  Russia.  As  the  years  have  advanced,  the 
maps  have  shifted  that  imaginary  desert  from 
side  to  side.  The  pioneer  does  such  wonders  in 
cultivating  what  was  then  supposed  to  be  a  barren 
waste,  that  we  bid  fair  in  time  not  to  have  any 
Sahara  at  all.  I  hardly  wonder  now  at  the  sur- 
prise this  royal  scion  expressed,  at  finding  himself 
among  men  and  women  who  kept  up  the  ameni- 
ties of  refined  life,  even  when  living  in  that  sub- 
terranean home  which  our  Government  provided 
for  its  defenders — the  dug-out.  It  seems  strange 
enough,  that  those  of  us  who  lived  the  rough  life 
of  Kansas's  early  days,  did  not  entirely  adopt  the 
careless,  unconventional  existence  of  the  pioneer  ; 
but  military  discipline  is  something  not  easily  set 
aside. 

Almost  our  first  excursionists  were  such  a  suc- 
cess that  we  wished  they  might  be  duplicated  in 
those  who  flocked  out  there  in  after  years.  Several 
of  the  party  were  old  travelers,  willing  to  under- 
go hardships  and  encounter  dangers,  to  see  the 
country  before  it  was  overrun  with  tourists.  They 
were  our  guests,  and  the  manner  in  which  they 
beguiled  our  time  made  their  departure  a  real 
regret.  They  called  themselves  "  Gideon's  Band." 


444  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

The  youngest  of  the  party,  a  McCook  from  the 
fighting-  Ohio  family,  was  "  Old  Gid,"  while  the 
oldest  of  all  answered  when  they  called  "  Young 
Gid."  As  they  were  witty,  clever,  conversant  by 
actual  experience  with  most  things  that  we  only 
read  of  in  the  papers,  we  found  them  a  godsend. 
When  such  people  thanked  us  for  what  simple 
hospitality  we  could  offer,  it  almost  came  as  a 
surprise,  for  we  felt  ourselves  their  debtors.  After 
having  written  to  this  point  in  my  narrative  of 
our  gay  visit  from  Gideon's  Band,  a  letter  in  re- 
sponse to  one  that  I  had  sent  to  Mr.  Charles 
G.  Leland  arrived  from  London.  I  asked  him 
about  his  poem,  and  after  twenty  years,  in 
which  we  never  saw  him,  he  recalls  with  enthusi- 
asm his  short  stay  with  us.  I  have  only  eliminated 
some  descriptions  that  he  gives,  in  the  extract  of 
the  private  letter  sent  then  from  Fort  Riley — 
descriptions  of  the  wife  of  the  commanding  officer 
and  the  pretty  Diana.  Women  being  in  the 
minority,  it  was  natural  that  we  were  never  un- 
dervalued. Grateful  as  I  am  that  he  should 
so  highly  appreciate  officers'  wives,  and  much 
as  I  prize  what  he  says  regarding  "  the  influ- 
ences that  made  a  man,  and  kept  him  what  he 
was,"  I  must  reserve  for  Mr.  Leland's  correspond- 
ent of  twenty  years  back,  and  for  myself,  his 
opinion  of  frontier  women. 


A  MEMOR  Y  RE  VIVED. 


445 


"LANGHAM  HOTEL,  PORTLAND  PLACE, 

"  LONDON,  W.,  June  14,  1887. 
"  DEAR  MRS.  CUSTER  : — It  is  a  thousand  times 
more  likely  that  you  should  forget  me  than  that 
I  should  ever  forget  you,  though  it  were  at  an  in- 
terval of  twice  twenty  years  ;  the  more  so  since  I 
have  read  your  admirable  book,  which  has  re- 
vived in  me  the  memory  of  one  of  the  strangest 
incidents  and  some  of  the  most  agreeable  impres- 
sions of  a  somewhat  varied  and  eventful  life.  I 
was  with  a  party  of  gentlemen  who  had  gone  out 
to  what  was  then  the  most  advanced  surveyor's 
camp  for  the  Pacific  Railway,  in  western  Kansas. 
On  returning,  we  found  ourselves  one  evening 
about  a  mile  from  Fort  Riley,  where  we  were  to 
be  the  guests  of  yourself  and  your  husband.  We 
had  been  all  day  in  a  so-called  ambulance  or 
wagon.  The  one  that  I  shared  with  my  friend, 
J.  R.  G.  Hassard,  of  the  New  York  Tribune,  was 
driven  by  a  very  intelligent  and  amusing  frontiers- 
man, deeply  experienced  in  Indian  and  Mexican 
life,  named  Brigham.  Brigham  thought,  by  mis- 
take, that  we  had  all  gone  to  Fort  Riley  by  some 
other  conveyance,  and  he  was  thirty  or  forty  yards 
in  advance,  driving  on  rapidly.  We,  encumbered 
with  blankets,  packs  and  arms,  had  no  mind  to 
walk  when  we  could  'waggon.'  One  man 
whistled,  and  all  roared  aloud.  Then  one  dis- 
charged his  rifle.  But  the  wind  was  blowing 
away  from  Brigham  towards  us,  and  he  heard 
nothing.  The  devil  put  an  idea  in  my  head, 
for  which  I  have  had  many  a  regret  since  then. 
Infandum  regina  jubes  renovare  dolor  em.  'Thou, 
my  queen,  dost  command  me  to  revive  a 
wretched  sorrow.'  For  it  occurred  that  I  could 
send  a  rifle-ball  so  near  to  Brigham's  head  that  he 
could  hear  the  whistle,  and  that  this  would  very 


446  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

naturally  cause  him  stop.  If  I  could  only  know 
all,  I  would  sooner  have  aimed  between  my  own 
eyes. 

"  '  Give  me  a  gun/  I  said  to  Colonel  Lam- 
bourn. 

"  '  You  won't  shoot  at  him !'  said  the  Colonel. 

"'If  you'll  insure  the  mules,' I  replied,  'I  will 
insure  the  driver.' 

"  I  took  aim  and  fired.  The  ambulance  was  cov- 
ered, and  I  did  not  know  that  Mr.  Hassard,  the 
best  fellow  in  the  world — nemini  secundus — was 
sitting  inside  and  talking  to  Brigham.  The 
bullet  passed  between  their  faces,  which  were 
a  foot  apart — less  rather  than  more. 

" '  What  is  that  ?  '  cried  Hassard. 

"  '  Injuns/'1  replied  Brigham,  who  knew  by  many 
an  experience  how  wagons  were  Apached,  Co- 
manchied,  or  otherwise  aboriginated. 

"  'Lay  down  flat  !' 

"  He  drove  desperately  till  he  thought  he  was 
out  of  shot,  and  then  put  out  his  head  to  give  the 
Indians  a  taunting  war-whoop.  I  shall  never  for- 
get the  appearance  of  that  sun-burned  face,  with 
gold  ear-rings  and  a  vast  sombrero  !  What  was 
his  amazement  at  seeing  only  friends  !  I  did  not 
know  what  Brigham's  state  of  mind  might  be  tow- 
ard me,  but  I  remembered  that  he  gloried  in  his 
familiarity  with  Spanish,  so  I  said  to  him  in  the 
Castile-soap  dialect,  '  I  fired  that  shot ;  is  it  to  be 
hand  or  knife  between  us  ? '  It  is  to  his  credit 
that  he  at  once  shook  my  hand,  and  said  '  La 
mano/'  He  drove  on  in  grim  silence,  and  then 
said,  '  I've  driven  for  twelve  years  on  this  frontier, 
but  I  never  heard,  before,  of  anybody  trying  to 
stop  one  by  shooting  the  driver.' 

"  Another  silence,  broken  by  the  following  re- 
mark :  '  I  wish  to  God  there  was  a  gulch  any 


A   TERROR  CALMED.  447 

where  between  here  and  the  fort  !  I'd  upset  this 
party  into  it  d n  quick.' 

"  But  I  had  a  great  fear.  It  was  of  General  Cus- 
ter  and  what  he  would  have  to  say  to  me,  for 
recklessly  imperiling  the  life  of  one  of  his  drivers, 
to  say  nothing  of  what  might  have  happened  to  a 
valuable  team  of  mules  and  the  wagon.  It  was 
with  perturbed  feelings — and,  ay  de  mi!  with  an 
evil  conscience — that  I  approached  him.  He  had 
been  informed  of  the  incident,  but  was  neither 
angry  nor  vindictive.  All  he  did  was  to  utter  a 
hearty  laugh  and  say,  '  I  never  heard  before  of 
such  an  original  way  of  ringing  a  bell  to  call  a 
man.' 

"  In  a  letter  written  about  this  time  to  a  friend,  I 
find  the  following  : 

"  *  We  had  not  for  many  days  seen  a  lady.  In- 
deed, the  only  woman  I  had  met  for  more  than  a 
week  was  a  poor,  sad  soul,  who,  with  her  two  child- 
daughters,  had  just  been  brought  in  by  Lieuten- 
ant Hesselberger  from  a  six-months'  captivity  of 
outrage  and  torture  among  the  Apaches.  You 
may  imagine  how  I  was  impressed  with  Mrs. 
General  Custer  and  her  friend,  Miss .  .  » 

"  'General  Custer  is  an  ideal — the  ideal  of  frank 
chivalry,  unaffected,  genial  humor,  and  that  ear- 
nestness allied  to  originality  which  is  so  character- 
istic of  the  best  kind  of  Western  army  man.  I 
have  not,  in  all  my  life,  met  with  so  many  inter- 
esting types  of  character,  as  during  this,  my  first 
journey  to  Kansas,  but  first  among  all,  I  place 
this  trio. 

"  '  In  the  evening  a  great  musical  treat  awaited 
me.  I  had  once  passed  six  months  in  Bavaria, 
where  I  had  learned  to  love  the  zither.  This  in- 
strument was  about  as  well  known  twenty  years 
ago  in  America,  as  a  harp  of  a  thousand  strings. 


448  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

But  there  was  at  the  fort  a  Bavarian  soldier,  who 
played  charmingly  on  it,  and  he  was  brought  in. 
I  remember  asking  him  for  many  of  his  best-loved 
airs.  The  General  and  his  wife  impressed  me  as 
two  of  the  best  entertainers  of  guests  whom  I 
ever  met.  The  perfection  of  this  rare  talent  is,  to 
enjoy  yourself  while  making  others  at  their  ease 
and  merry,  and  the  proof  lies  in  this,  that  seldom, 
indeed,  have  I  ever  spent  so  pleasant  an  evening 
as  that  in  the  fort.7 

"  My  personal  experience  of  General  Custer  does 
not  abound  in  anecdotes,  but  is  extremely  rich 
in  my  impressions  of  him,  as  a  type  and  a  charac- 
ter, both  as  man  and  gentleman.  There  is  many 
a  man  whom  I  have  met  a  thousand  times,  whom 
I  hardly  recollect  at  all,  while  I  could  never  for- 
get him.  He  was  not  only  an  admirable  but  an 
impressive  man.  One  would  credit  anything  to 
his  credit,  because  he  was  so  frank  and  earnest. 
One  meets  with  a  somewhat  similar  character 
sometimes  among  the  Hungarians,  but  just  such  a 
man  is  as  rare  as  the  want  of  them  in  the  world  is 
great. 

"With  sincere  regards,  yours  truly, 

"  CHARLES  G.  LELAND." 

As  Mr.  Leland's  poem,  "  Breitmann  in  Kansas," 
was  inspired  partly  by  the  buffalo-hunt  and  visit 
at  our  quarters,  I  quote  a  few  stanzas  :* 

"  Vonce  oopen  a  dimes,  der  Herr  Breitmann  vent  oud  West. 
Von  efenings  he  was  drafel  mit  some  ladies  und  shendlemans, 
und  he  shtaid  incognitus.  Und  dey  singed  songs  dill  py  and  py 
one  of  de  ladies  say  :  '  Ish  any  podies  here  ash  know  de  crate 


*  From  "  Hans  Breitmann's  Ballads,"  by  permission  of  Messrs. 
T.  B.  Peterson  &  Brothers,  publishers. 


A  DIALECT  POEM. 


449 


pallad  of  "  Hans  Breitmann's  Barty?"  Den  Hans  said,  *  I  am 
dat  rooster  !'  Den  der  Hans  took  a  drink  und  a  let  pencil  und  a 
biece  of  baper,  und  goes  indo  himself  a  little  dimes,  and  den 
coomes  out  again  mit  dis  boem  : 

"  Hans  Breitmann  vent  to  Kansas  ; 

He  drafel  fast  und  far. 
He  rided  shoost  drei  dousand  miles 

All  in  one  railroot  car. 
He  knowed  foost  rate  how  far  he  goed — 

He  gounted  all  de  vile. 
Dar  vash  shoost  one  bottle  of  champagne. 

Dat  bopped  at  efery  mile. 

"  Hans  Breitmann  vent  to  Kansas  ; 

He  went  in  on  de  loud. 
At  Ellsvort  in  de  prairie  land, 

He  found  a  pully  croud. 
He  looked  for  bleeding  Kansas, 

But  dat's  '  blayed  out,'  dey  say  ; 
De  whiskey  keg's  de  only  dings 

Dat's  bleedin'  der  to-day. 

"  Hans  Breitmann  vent  to  Kansas  ; 

Py  shings  !     I  dell  you  vot, 
Von  day  he  met  a  crisly  bear 

Dat  rooshed  him  down,  bei  Gott  ! 
Boot  der  Breitmann  took  und  bind  der  bear, 

Und  bleased  him  fery  much — 
For  efry  vordt  der  crisly  growled 

Vas  goot  Bavarian  Dutch  ! 

"  Hans  Breitmann  vent  to  Kansas  ! 

By  donder,  dat  is  so  ! 
He  ridit  out  upon  de  plains 

To  shase  de  boofalo. 
He  fired  his  rifle  at  the  bools, 

Und  gallop  troo  de  shmoke 
Und  shoomp  de  canyons  shoost  as  if 

Der  tyfel  vas  a  choke  !" 


45° 


TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 


Not  only  were  a  large  number  of  officers 
brought  together  that  winter  from  varied  walks 
in  life  and  of  different  nationalities,  but  the  men 
that  enlisted  ranged  from  the  highest  type  of 
soldier  to  the  lowest  scum  of  humanity  recruited 
in  the  crowded  cities.  It  often  happened  that 
enlisted  men  had  served  an  honorable  record  as 
officers  in  the  volunteer  service.  Some  had  en- 
tered the  regular  army  because  their  life  was 
broken  up  by  the  war  and  they  knew  not  how  to 
begin  a  new  career;  others  had  hopes  of  promo- 
tion, on  the  strength  of  their  war  record,  or  from 
the  promises  of  influential  friends.  My  heart  is 
moved  anew  as  I  recall  one  man,  who  sank  his 
name  and  individuality,  his  very  self,  it  seemed, 
by  enlistment,  and  as  effectually  disappeared  as 
if  he  had  flung  himself  into  the  river  that  rushed 
by  our  post.  One  night  there  knocked  at  the 
door  of  one  of  our  officer's  quarters  a  man  who, 
though  in  citizen's  dress,  was  at  once  recognized 
as  an  old  comrade  in  the  war.  He  had  been  a 
brigadier-general  of  volunteers.  After  he  had  been 
made  welcome,  he  gave  some  slight  account  of 
himself,  and  then  said  he  had  about  made  up  his 
mind  to  enlist.  Our  Seventh  Cavalry  officer  im- 
plored him  not  to  think  of  such  a  thing,  pictured  the 
existence  of  a  man  of  education  and  refinement 
in  such  surroundings,  and  offered  him  financial 


GOOD-BY  TO  INDIVIDUALITY. 


451 


help,  should  that  be  needed. 
He  finally  found  the  subject 
was  adroitly  withdrawn,  and 
the  conversation  went  back  to 
old  times.  They  talked  on  in 
this  friendly  manner  until  mid- 
night, and  then  parted.  The 
next  day  a  soldier  in  fresh, 
bright  blue  uniform,  passed  the 
officer,  formally  saluting  as  he 
went  by,  and  to  his  consterna- 
tion he  discovered  in  this  en- 
listed man  his  friend  of  the 
night  before.  They  never  met 
again  ;  the  good-by  of  the  mid- 
night hour  was  in  reality  the 


farewell  that  one  of  them  had  7, 
intended  it  to  be. 


GUN-STAND   IN   GENERAL   OUSTER'S    LIBRARY. 


45  2 


TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 


This  is  but  one  of  many  instances  where  supe- 
rior men,  for  one  reason  or  another,  get  into  the 
ranks  of  our  army.  If  they  are  fortunate  enough 
to  fall  into  the  hands  of  considerate  officers,  their 
lot  is  endurable  ;  but  to  be  assigned  to  one  who 
is  unjust  and  overbearing  is  a  miserable  existence. 
One  of  our  finest  men  was  so  constantly  looking, 
in  his  soldiers,  for  the  same  qualities  that  he  pos- 
sessed, and  insisted  so  upon  the  superiority  of 
his  men,  that  the  officers  were  wont  to  exclaim  in 
good-natured  irony,  "  Oh,  yes,  we  all  know  that 
Hamilton's  company  is  made  up  of  dukes  and 
earls  in  disguise." 

There  were  some  clever  rogues  among  the  en- 
listed men,  and  the  officers  were  as  yet  scarcely 
able  to  cope  with  the  cunning  of  those  who  doubt- 
less had  intimate  acquaintance  with  courts  of 
justice  and  prisons  in  the  Eastern  States.  The  re- 
cruiting officer  in  the  cities  is  not  compelled,  as  in 
other  occupations,  to  ask  a  character  from  a 
former  employer.  The  Government  demands  able- 
bodied  men,  and  the  recruiting  sergeant  casts  his 
critical  eye  over  the  anatomical  outlines,  as  he 
would  over  the  good  points  of  a  horse  destined  for 
the  same  service.  The  awful  hereafter  is,  when  the 
officer  that  receives  this  physical  perfection  on  the 
frontier  aims  to  discover  whether  it  contains  a  soul. 

Our  guard-house  at  Fort  Riley  was  outside  the 


£  SCAPE  FROM  PRISOtf.  453 

garrison  a  short  distance,  and  held  a  goodly 
number  of  violators  of  the  regulations.  For  sev- 
eral nights,  at  one  time,  strange  sounds  for  such  a 
place  issued  from  the  walls.  Religion  in  the 
noisiest  form  seemed  to  have  taken  up  its  perma- 
nent abode  there,  and  for  three  hours  at  a  time 
singing,  shouting  and  loud  praying  went  on. 
There  was  every  appearance  of  a  revival  among 
those  trespassers.  The  officer  of  the  day,  in  mak- 
ing his  rounds,  had  no  comment  to  pass  upon  this 
remarkable  transition  from  card  -  playing  and 
wrangling ;  he  was  doubtless  relieved  to  hear  the 
voice  of  the  exhorters  as  he  visited  the  guard,  and 
indulged  in  the  belief  that  the  prisoners  were  out 
of  mischief.  On  the  contrary,  this  vehement 
attack  of  religion  covered  up  the  worst  sort  of 
roguery.  Night  after  night  they  had  been  digging 
tunnels  under  the  stone  foundation-walls,  remov- 
ing boards  and  cutting  beams  in  the  floor,  and  to 
deaden  the  sound  of  the  pounding  and  digging 
some  of  their  number  were  told  off  to  sing,  pray 
and  shout.  One  morning  the  guard  opened  the 
door  of  the  rooms  in  which  the  prisoners  had  been 
confined,  and  they  were  empty !  Even  two  that 
wore  ball  and  chains  for  serious  offenses  had  in 
some  manner  managed  to  knock  them  off,  as  all 
had  swum  the  Smoky  Hill  River,  and  they  were 
never  again  heard  from. 


454  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

As  with  the  history  of  all  prisons,  so  it  was  of 
our  little  one.  The  greatest  rogues  were  not  in- 
carcerated ;  they  were  too  cunning  to  be  caught. 
It  often  happened  that  some  excellent  soldiers  be- 
came innocently  involved  in  a  fracas  and  were 
marched  off  to  the  guard-house,  while  the  arch 
villain  slipped  into  his  place  in  the  ranks  and 
answered  to  his  name  at  roll-call,  apparently  the 
most  exemplary  of  soldiers.  Several  instances  of 
what  I  thought  to  be  unjust  imprisonment  came 
directly  under  my  notice,  and  I  may  have  been 
greatly  influenced  by  Eliza's  pleas  in  their  be- 
half. We  made  the  effort,  and  succeeded  in  ex- 
tricating one  man  from  his  imprisonment. 
Whether  he  was  in  reality  wronged,  or  had  only 
worked  upon  our  sympathies,  will  never  be  known, 
but  he  certainly  made  an  excellent  soldier  from 
that  time  until  the  end  of  his  enlistment.  Eliza, 
in  her  own  quaint  way,  is  saying  to  me  now,  "  Do 

you  mind,  Miss  Libbie,  how  me  and  you  got  J 

his  parole  ?  He  used  to  come  to  our  house  with 
the  rest  of  the  prisoners,  to  police  the  yard  and  cut 
the  wood,  and  they  used  to  hang  round  my  door ; 
the  guard  could  hardly  get  'em  away.  Well,  I 
reckon  he  didn't  try  very  hard,  for  he  didn't  like 
hard-tack  no  better  than  they  did.  One  of  them 
would  speak  up  the  minute  they  saw  me,  and  say, 
'  Eliza,  you  hain't  got  no  hot  biscuit,  have  you  ? ' 


A  PLEA  FOR  PRISONERS. 


455 


Hot  biscuits  for  prisoners  !  do  you  hear  that,  Miss 
Libbie?  The  Ginnel  would  be  standin'  at  the 
back  window,  just  to  catch  a  chance  to  laugh  at 
me  if  I  gave  the  prisoners  anythin'  to  eat.  He'd 
stand  at  that  window,  movin'  from  one  foot  to 
the  other,  craning  of  his  neck,  and  when  I  did 
give  any  cold  scraps,  he  just  bided  his  time,  and 
when  he  saw  me  he  would  say,  '  Well,  been 
issuin'  your  rations  again,  Eliza  ?  How  many 
apple-dumplin's  and  biscuit  did  they  get  this 
time  ? '  Apple-dumplin's,  Miss  Libbie  !  He  jest 
said  that  'cause  he  liked  'em  better  than  any- 
thin'  else,  and  s'posed  I'd  been  givin7  away  some 
of  his.  But  as  soon  as  he  had  teased  me  about  it, 
that  was  the  end;  he  would  go  along  about  his  way 
and  pick  up  his  book,  when  he  had  done  his  laugh. 
But,  Miss  Libbie,  he  used  to  kinder  mistrust,  if  me 
and  you  was  talkin'  one  side.  He  would  say, 
'  What  you  two  conspirin'  up  now  ?  Tryin'  to 
get  some  one  out  of  jail,  I  s'pose.'  I  remember 

how  we  worked  for  J .     He  came  to  me  and 

told  me  I  must  '  try  to  get  Mrs.  Custer  to  work 
for  him ;  two  words  from  her  would  do  him  more 
good  than  all  the  rest,'  and  he  would  come  along 
sideways  by  your  window,  carrying  his  ball  over 
his  arm  with  the  chain  a  danglin',  and  look  so 
pitiful  like,  so  you  would  see  him  and  beg  him  off." 
This  affair  ended  entirely  to  Eliza's  satisfaction. 


456  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

I  saw  the  captain  of  his  company  ;  for  though  it 
was  against  my  husband's  wish  that  I  should  have 
anything  to  do  with  official  matters,  he  did  not 
object  to  this  intervention;  he  only  laughed  at  my 
credulity.  The  captain  politely  heard  my  state- 
ment of  what  Eliza  had  told  me  were  J 's 

wrongs,  and  gave  him  parole.  His  sentence  was 
rescinded  eventually,  as  he  kept  his  promises  and 
was  a  most  faithful  soldier.  The  next  morning 

after  J was  returned  to  duty  and  began  life 

anew,  one  of  the  young  officers  sauntered  into  our 
quarters  and,  waving  his  hand  with  a  little 
flourish,  said,  "  I  want  to  congratulate  you  on 
having  obtained  the  pardon  of  the  greatest  scamp 
in  the  regiment ;  he  wouldn't  steal  a  red-hot  stove, 
but  would  wait  a  mighty  long  time  for  it  to  cool." 
Later  in  my  story  is  my  husband's  mention,  in  his 
letters,  of  the  very  man  as  bearing  so  good  a 
record  that  he  sent  for  him  and  had  him  detailed 
at  headquarters,  for  nothing  in  the  world,  he  con- 
fessed, but  because  I  had  once  interceded  for  him. 
Eliza  kept  my  sympathies  constantly  aroused, 
with  her  piteous  tales  of  the  wrongs  of  the  pris- 
oners. They  daily  had  her  ear,  and  she  appointed 
herself  judge,  jury  and  attorney  for  the  defense. 
On  the  coldest  days,  when  we  could  not  ride  and 
the  wind  blew  so  furiously  that  we  were  not  able 
to  walk,  I  saw  from  our  windows  how  poorly  clad 


COLD  FACTS  A  GAINST  US. 

they  were,  for  they  came  daily,  under  the  care  of 
the  guard,  to  cut  the  wood  and  fill  the  water-bar- 
rels. The  General  quietly  endured  the  expressions 
of  sympathy,  and  sometimes  my  indignant  pro- 
tests against  unjust  treatment.  He  knew  the  wrath- 
ful spirit  of  the  kitchen  had  obeyed  the  natural 
law  that  heat  must  rise,  and  treated  our  combined 
rages  over  the  prisoners7  wrongs  with  aggravating 
calmness.  Knowing  more  about  the  guard-house 
occupants  than  I  did,  he  was  fortified  by  facts 
that  saved  Him  from  expending  his  sympathies  in 
the  wrong  direction.  He  only  smiled  at  the  plau- 
sible stories  by  which  Eliza  was  first  taken  in  at 
the  kitchen  door.  They  lost  nothing  by  trans- 
mission, as  she  had  quite  an  imagination  and  de- 
cidedly a  dramatic  delivery ;  and  finally,  when  I 
told  the  tale,  trying  to  perform  the  monstrously 
hard  feat  of  telling  it  as  it  was  told  to  me,  youth, 
inexperience  and  an  emotional  temperament  made 
a  narrative  so  absolutely  distressing  that  the  Gen- 
eral was  likely  to  come  over  bodily  to  our  side, 
had  he  not  recalled  the  details  of  the  court-martial 
that  had  tried  the  soldier.  We  were  routed,  yet 
not  completely,  for  we  fell  back  upon  his  clothes, 
and  pleaded  that,  though  he  was  thought  to  be 
wicked,  he  might  be  permitted  to  be  warm.  But 
the  colored  and  white  troops  had  to  leave  the  field, 
"horse,  foot  and  dragoons,"  when,  on  investiga- 


458  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

tion,  we  found  that  the  man  for  whom  we  pleaded 
had  gambled  away  his  very  shirt. 

The  unmoved  manner  in  which  my  husband 
listened  to  different  accounts  of  supposed  cruelty — 
dropping  his  beloved  newspaper  with  the  injured 
air  that  men  assume,  while  I  sat  by  him,  half  cry- 
ing, gesticulating,  thoroughly  roused  in  my  de- 
fense of  the  injured  one — was  exasperating,  to  say 
the  least ;  and  then,  at  last,  to  have  this  bubble 
of  assumed  championship  burst,  and  see  him 
launch  into  such  uproarious  conduct  when  he 
found  that  the  man  for  whom  I  pleaded  was  the 
arch  rogue  of  all — oh,  women  alone  can  picture  to 
themselves  what  the  situation  must  have  been  to 
poor  me  ! 

After  one  of  these  seasons  of  good-natured 
scoffing  over  the  frequency  with  which  I  was  taken 
in,  I  mentally  resolved  that,  though  -the  proof  I 
heard  of  the  soldier's  depravity  was  too  strong 
for  me  to  ignore,  there  was  no  contesting  the  fact 
that  the  criminal  was  cold,  and  if  I  had  failed  in 
freeing  him  I  might  at  least  provide  against  his 
freezing.  He  was  at  that  time  buttoning  a  rag- 
ged blouse  up  to  his  chin,  not  only  for  warmth, 
but  because,  in  his  evening  game  of  poker,  his 
comrade  had  won  the  undergarment,  quite  super- 
fluous, he  thought,  while  warmed  by  the  guard- 
house fire.  I  proceeded  to  shut  myself  in  our 


CAPTURE  FROM  A  GUNBOAT. 


459 


room,  and  go  through  the  General's  trunk  for 
something  warm.  The  selection  that  I  made  was 
unfortunate.  There  were  some  navy  shirts  of  blue 
flannel  that  had  been  procured  with  considerable 
trouble  from  a  gunboat  in  the  James  River  the  last 
year  of  the  war,  the  like  of  which,  in  quality  and 
durability,  could  not  be  found  in  any  shop.  The 
material  was  so  good  that  they  neither  shrunk  nor 
pulled  out  of  shape.  The  broad  collar  had  a  star 
embroidered  in  solid  silk  in  either  corner.  The 
General  had  bought  these  for  their  durability,  but 
they  proved  to  be  a  picturesque  addition  to  his 
gay  dress  ;  and  the  red  necktie  adopted  by  his 
entire  Third  Division  of  Cavalry  gave  a  dash  of 
vivid  color,  while  the  yellow  hair  contrasted  with 
the  dark  blue  of  the  flannel.  The  gunboats  were 
overwhelmed  with  applications  to  buy,  as  his 
Division  wished  to  adopt  this  feature  of  his  dress 
also,  and  military  tailors  had  many  orders  to  re- 
produce what  the  General  had  "  lighted  upon,"  as 
the  officers  expressed  it,  by  accident.  Really, 
there  was  no  color  so  good  for  campaigning,  as  it 
was  hard  to  harmonize  any  gray  tint  with  the 
different  blues  of  the  uniform.  Men  have  a  way 
of  saying  that  we  women  never  seize  their  things, 
for  barter  or  other  malevolent  purposes,  without 
selecting  what  they  especially  prize.  But  the 
General  really  had  reason  to  dote  upon  these  shirts. 


460  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

The  rest  of  the  story  scarcely  needs  telling. 
Many  injured  husbands  whose  wardrobes  have 
been  confiscated  for  eleemosynary  purposes,  will 
join  in  a  general  wail.  The  men  that  wear 
one  overcoat  in  early  spring,  and  carry  another 
over  their  arm  to  their  offices,  uncertain,  if  they 
did  not  observe  this  precaution,  that  the  coming 
winter  would  not  find  these  garments  mysteriously 
metamorphosed  into  lace  on  a  gown,  or  mantle 
ornaments,  may  fill  in  all  that  my  story  fails  to 
tell.  In  the  General's  case,  it  was  perhaps  more 
than  ordinarily  exasperating.  It  was  not  that  a 
creature  who  bargains  for  "  gentlemen's  cast-offs" 
had  possession  of  something  that  a  tailor  could 
not  readily  replace,  but  we  were  then  too  far  out 
on  the  Plains  to  buy  even  ordinary  blue  flannel. 

As  I  remember  myself  half  buried  in  the  trunk 
of  the  commanding  officer,  and  suddenly  lifted  into 
the  air  with  a  shirt  in  one  hand,  my  own  escape 
from  the  guard-house  seems  miraculous.  As  it 
was,  I  was  let  off  very  lightly,  ignoring  some  re- 
marks about  it's  being  "  a  pretty  high-handed 
state  of  affairs,  that  compels  a  man  to  lock  his 
trunk  in  his  own  family  ;  and  that,  between  Tom's 
pilfering  and  his  wife's,  the  commanding  officer 
would  soon  be  obliged  to  receive  official  reports 
in  bed." 

There  was  very  little  hunting  about  Fort  Riley 


TEMPORAR  Y  FAMINE.  46 1 

in  the  winter.  The  General  had  shot  a  great 
many  prairie  chickens  in  the  autumn,  and  hung 
them  in  the  wood-house,  and  while  they  lasted 
we  were  not  entirely  dependent  on  Government 
beef.  As  the  season  advanced,  we  had  only  ox- 
tail soup  and  beef.  Although  the  officers  were 
allowed  to  buy  the  best  cuts,  the  cattle  that  sup- 
plied the  post  with  meat  were  far  from  being  in 
good  condition.  One  day  our  table  was  crowded 
with  officers,  some  of  whom  had  just  reported  for 
duty.  The  usual  great  tureen  of  soup  was  dis- 
posed of,  and  the  servant  brought  in  an  immense 
platter,  on  which  generally  reposed  a  large  roast. 
But  when  the  dish  was  placed  before  the  General, 
to  my  dismay  there  appeared  in  the  centre  of  its 
wide  circumference  a  steak  hardly  larger  than  a 
man's  hand.  It  was  a  painful  situation,  and  I 
blushed,  gazed  uneasily  at  the  new-comers,  but 
hesitated  about  apologies,  as  they  were  my  hus- 
band's detestation.  He  relieved  us  from  the 
awful  silence  that  fell  upon  all,  by  a  peal  of 
laughter  that  shook  the  table  and  disturbed  the 
poor  little  steak  in  its  lonesome  bed.  Eliza  thrust 
her  head  in  at  the  door,  and  explained  that  the 
cattle  had  stampeded,  and  the  commissary  could 
not  get  them  back  in  time  to  kill,  as  they  did 
daily  at  the  post.  The  General  was  perfectly 
unmoved,  calling  those  peculiar  staccato  "all 


462  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

right !"  "  all  right !"  to  poor  Eliza,  setting  affairs 
at  ease  again,  and  asking  the  guests  to  do  the  best 
they  could  with  the  vegetables,  bread  and  butter, 
coffee  and  dessert. 

The  next  day,  beef  returned  to  our  table,  but, 
alas!  the  potatoes  gave  out,  and  I  began  to  be 
disturbed  about  my  housewifely  duties.  "My 
husband  begged  me  not  to  give  it  a  thought,  say- 
ing that  Eliza  would  pull  us  through  the  tempo- 
rary famine  satisfactorily,  and  adding,  that  what 
was  good  enough  for  us,  was  good  enough  for  our 
guests.  But  an  attack  of  domestic  responsibility 
was  upon  me,  and  I  insisted  upon  going  to  the 
little  town  near  us.  Under  any  circumstances  the 
General  opposed  my  entering  its  precincts,  as  it 
was  largely  inhabited  by  outlaws  and  despera- 
does, and  to  go  for  so  small  a  consideration  as 
marketing  was  entirely  against  his  wishes.  I 
paid  dearly  for  my  persistence  ;  for,  when,  after 
buying  what  I  could  at  the  stores,  I  set  out  to 
return,  the  chain  bridge  on  which  I  had  crossed 
the  river  in  the  morning,  had  been  swept  away, 
and  the  roaring  torrent,  that  had  risen  above  the 
high  banks,  was  plunging  along  its  furious  way, 
bearing  earth  and  trees  in  its  turbid  flood.  I 
spent  several  dreary  hours  on  the  bank,  growing 
more  uneasy  and  remorseful  all  the  time.  The 
potatoes  and  eggs  that  so  short  a  time  since  I  had 


A  PERSISTENT  V/OMAN.  463 

triumphantly  secured,  seemed  more  and  more 
hateful  to  me,  as  I  looked  at  them  lying  in  the 
basket  in  the  bottom  of  the  ambulance.  I  made 
innumerable  resolves  that,  so  long  as  my  husband 
did  not  wish  me  to  concern  myself  about  provid- 
ing for  our  table,  I  never  would  attempt  it  again  ; 
but  all  these  resolutions  could  not  bring  back  the 
bridge,  and  I  had  to  take  the  advice  of  one  of 
our  officers,  who  was  also  waiting  to  cross,  and 
go  back  to  the  house  of  one  of  the  merchants 
who  sold  supplies  to  the  post.  His  wife  was  very 
hospitable,  as  frontier  men  and  women  invariably 
are,  and  next  morning  I  was  down  on  the  bank  of 
the  river  early,  more  impatient  than  ever  to  cross. 
What  made  the  detention  more  exasperating  was, 
that  the  buildings  of  the  garrison  on  the  plateau 
were  plainly  visible  from  where  we  waited.  Then 
ensued  the  most  foolhardy  conduct  on  my  part, 
and  so  terrified  the  General  when  I  told  him 
afterward,  that  I  came  near  never  being  trusted 
alone  again.  The  most  vexing  part  of  it  all  was, 
that  I  involved  the  officer,  who  was  in  town  by 
accident,  in  imminent  danger,  for  when  he  heard 
what  I  was  determined  to  do,  he  had  no  alternative 
but  to  second  my  scheme,  as  no  persuasion  was 
of  any  avail.  I  induced  a  sergeant  in  charge  of 
a  small  boat  to  take  me  over.  I  was  frantic  to 
get  home,  as  for  some  time  preparations  had  been 


464  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

going  on  for  a  summer  campaign,  and  I  had  kept 
it  out  of  our  day  as  much  as  I  could. 

The  General  never  anticipated  trouble,  reason- 
ing that  it  was  bad  enough  when  it  came,  and  we 
both  felt  that  every  hour  must  hold  what  it  could 
of  enjoyment,  and  not  be  darkened  a  moment  if 
we  could  help  it.  The  hours  of  delay  on  the 
bank  were  almost  insupportable,  as  each  one  was 
shortening  precious  time.  I  could  not  help  tell- 
ing the  sergeant  this,  and  he  yielded  to  my  en- 
treaties— for  what  soldier  ever  refused  our  ap- 
peals ?  The  wind  drove  through  the  trees  on  the 
bank,  lashing  the  limbs  to  and  fro  and  breaking 
off  huge  branches,  and  it  required  almost  super- 
human strength  to  hold  the  frail  boat  to  the  slip- 
pery landing  long  enough  to  lift  me  in.  The  sol- 
dier at  the  prow  held  in  his  muscular  hands  a  pole 
with  an  iron  pin  at  the  end,  with  which  he  used 
all  his  energy  to  push  away  the  floating  logs  that 
threatened  to  swamp  us.  It  was  almost  useless  to 
attempt  to  steer,  as  the  river  had  a  current  that 
it  was  impossible  to  stem.  The  only  plan  was,  to 
push  out  into  the  stream  filled  with  debris,  and 
let  the  current  shoot  the  boat  far  down  the  river, 
aiming  for  a  bend  in  its  shores  on  the  opposite 
side.  I  closed  my  eyes  to  the  wild  rush  of  water 
on  all  sides ;  shuddering  at  the  shouts  of  the  sol- 
diers, who  tried  to  make  themselves  heard  above 


TESTING  A  MAN'S  METTLE.  465 

the  deafening  clamor  of  the  tempest.  I  could  not 
face  our  danger  and  retain  my  self-control,  and  I 
was  tortured  by  the  thought  of  having  brought 
peril  to  others.  I  owed  my  life  to  the  strong  and  sup- 
ple arms  of  the  sergeant  and  the  stalwart  soldier 
who  assisted  him,  for  with  a  spring  they  caught 
the  limbs  of  an  over-hanging  tree,  just  at  the  im- 
portant moment  when  our  little  craft  swung  near 
the  bank  at  the  river  bend,  and,  clutching  at 
branches  and  rocks,  we  were  pulled  to  the  shore 
and  safely  landed.  Why  the  brave  sergeant 
even  listened  to  such  a  wild  proposition,  I  do  not 
know.  It  was  the  maddest  sort  of  recklessness  to 
attempt  such  a  crossing,  and  the  man  had  nothing 
to  gain.  With  the  strange,  impassable  gulf  that 
separates  a  soldier  from  his  officers  and  their 
families,  my  imploring  to  be  taken  over  the  river, 
and  my  overwhelming  thanks  afterward,  were 
the  only  words  he  would  ever  hear  me  speak. 
With  the  officer  who  shared  the  peril,  it  was  differ- 
ent. When  we  sat  round  the  fireside  again,  he 
was  the  hero  of  the  hour.  The  gratitude  of  the 
officers,  the  thanks  of  the  women  putting  them- 
selves in  my  place  and  giving  him  praise  for  en- 
countering danger  for  another,  were  some  sort  of 
compensation.  The  poor  sergeant  had  nothing  ; 
he  went  back  to  the  barracks,  and  sank  his  indi- 
viduality in  the  ranks,  where  the  men  look  so. 


466  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

alike  in  their  uniform  it  is  almost  impossible  to 
distinguish  the  soldier  that  has  acted  the  hero 
from  one  who  is  never  aught  but  a  poltroon. 
After  the  excitement  of  the  peril  I  had  passed 
was  over,  I  no  longer  wondered  that  there  was 
such  violent  opposition  to  women  traveling  with 
troops.  The  lesson  lasted  me  a  long  time,  as  I 
was  well  aware  what  planning  and  preparation  it 
cost  to  take  us  women  along,  in  any  case,  when 
the  regiment  was  on  the  move,  and  to  make  these 
efforts  more  difficult  by  my  own  heedlessness  was 
too  serious  a  mistake  to  be  repeated. 

In  spite  of  the  drawbacks  to  a  perfectly  success- 
ful garrison,  which  was  natural  in  the  early  career 
of  a  regiment,  the  winter  had  been  full  of  pleas- 
ure to  me  ;  but  it  came  to  a  sad  ending  when  the 
preparations  for  the  departure  of  the  troops  began. 
The  stitches  that  I  put  in  the  repairs  to  the  blue 
flannel  shirts  were  set  with  tears.  I  eagerly 
sought  every  opportunity  to  prepare  the  camping 
outfit.  The  mess-chest  was  filled  with  a  few  strong 
dishes,  sacks  were  made  and  filled  with  coffee, 
sugar,  flour,  rice,  etc.,  and  a  few  cans  of  fruit  and 
vegetables  were  packed  away  in  the  bottom  of 
the  chest.  The  means  of  transportation  were  so 
limited  that  every  pound  of  baggage  was  a  matter 
of  consideration,  and  my  husband  took  some  of 
the  space,  that  I  thought  ought  to  be  devoted  to 


TROPHIES  OF  THE  CHASE   IN   GENERAL  CUSTER'S   LIBRARY. 

467 


468  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

comforts,  for  a  few  books  that  he  could  stand  read- 
ing and  re-reading.  Eliza  was  the  untiring  one  in 
preparing  the  outfit  for  the  summer.  She  knew  just 
when  to  administer  comforting  words,  as  I  sighed 
over  the  preparations,  and  reminded  me  that  "  the 
Ginnel  always  did  send  for  you,  every  chance  he 
got,  and  war  times  on  the  Plains  wan't  no  wuss 
than  in  Virginia." 

There  was  one  joke  that  came  up  at  every  move 
we  ever  made,  over  which  the  General  was  always 
merry.  The  officers,  in  and  out  of  our  quarters 
daily,  were  wont  to  observe  the  unusual  alacrity 
that  I  displayed  when  orders  came  to  move.  As 
I  had  but  little  care  or  anxiety  about  household 
affairs,  the  contrast  with  my  extreme  interest  in 
the  arrangements  of  the  mess-chest,  bedding  and 
campaigning  clothes  was  certainly  marked.  I 
longed  for  activity,  to  prevent  me  from  showing 
my  heavy  heart,  and  really  did  learn  to  be  some- 
what successful  in  crowding  a  good  deal  into  a 
small  space,  and  choosing  the  things  that  were 
most  necessary.  As  the  officers  came  in  unan- 
nounced, they  found  me  flying  hither  and  thither, 
intent  on  my  duties,  and  immediately  saw  an 
opportunity  to  tease  the  General,  condoling  with 
him  because,  having  exhausted  himself  in  ardu- 
ous packing  for  the  campaign,  he  would  be  obliged 
to  set  out  totally  unfitted  for  the  summer's  hard- 


FRUGALITY  RIDICULED.  469 

ships.  After  their  departure,  he  was  sure  to  turn 
to  me,  with  roguery  in  his  voice,  and  ask  if  I  had 
noticed  how  sorry  all  those  young  fellows  were 
for  a  man  who  was  obliged  to  work  so  hard  to 
get  his  traps  ready  for  a  move. 

It  was  amusing  to  notice  the  indifferent  manner 
in  which  some  of  the  officers  saw  the  careful  and 
frugal  preparing  for  the  campaign.  That  first 
spring's  experience  was  repeated  in  every  after 
preparation.  There  were  always  those  who  took 
little  or  nothing  themselves,  but  became  experts 
at  casual  droppings  in  to  luncheon  or  dinner  with 
some  painstaking  provider,  who  endeavored  vainly 
to  get  himself  out  of  sight  when  the  halt  came  for 
eating.  This  little  scheme  was  occasionally  per- 
sisted in  merely  to  annoy  one  who,  having  shown 
some  signs  of  parsimony,  needed  discipline  in  the 
•eyes  of  those  who  really  did  a  great  deal  of  good 
by  their  ridicule.  Among  one  group  of  officers, 
who  had  planned  to  mess  together,  the  only  pro- 
vision was  a  barrel  of  eggs.  It  is  only  necessary 
to  follow  a  cavalry  column  over  the  crossing  of 
one  creek,  to  know  the  exact  condition  that  such 
perishable  food  would  be  in  at  the  end  of  the  first 
day.  There  were  two  of  the  "plebes,"  as  the 
youngest  of  the  officers  were  called — as  I  recall 
them,  bright,  boyish,  charming  fellows — who 
openly  rebelled  against  the  rebuffs  they  claimed 


TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

were  given  them,  when  they  attempted   to  prac- 
tice the  dropping-in  plan  at  another's  meals. 

After  one  of  these  sallies  on  the  enemy,  they 
met  the  repulse  with  the  announcement  that  if 
"those  stingy  old  molly-coddles  thought  they  had 
nothing  to  eat  in  their  own  outfit,  they  would 
show  them,"  and  took  the  occasion  of  one  of  their 
birthdays  to  prove  that  their  resources  were  un- 
limited. Though  the  two  endeavored  to  conceal 
the  hour  and  place  of  this  fete,  a  persistent  watch- 
er discovered  that  the  birthday  breakfast  con- 
sisted of  a  bottle  of  native  champagne  and  corn 
bread.  The  hospitality  of  officers  is  too  well 
known  to  make  it  necessary  to  explain  that  those 
with  any  tendency  to  penuriousness  were  excep- 
tions. An  army  legend  is  in  existence  of  an 
officer  who  would  not  allow  his  hospitality  to  be 
set  aside,  even  though  he  wras  very  short  of  sup- 
plies. Being  an  officer  of  the  old  army,  he  was 
as  formal  over  his  repast  as  if  it  were  abundant, 
and,  with  all  ceremony,  had  his  servant  pass 
the  rice.  The  guest,  thinking  it  the  first  course, 
declined,  whereupon  the  host,  rather  offended, 
replied,  "Well,  if  you  don't  like  the  rice,  help 
yourself  to  the  mustard."  This  being  the  only 
other  article  on  the  bill  of  fare,  there  need  be  no- 
doubt  as  to  his  final  choice.  When  several  officers 
decide  to  mess  together  on  a  campaign,  each  one 


LEARNING  TO  CAMPAIGN.  471 

promises  to  provide  some  one  necessary  supply. 
On  one  of  these  occasions,  after  the  first  day's 
march  was  ended,  and  orders  for  dinner  were  given 
to  the  servant,  it  was  discovered  that  all  but  one 
had  exercised  his  own  judgment  regarding  what 
was  the  most  necessary  provision  for  comfort, 
and  the  one  that  had  brought  a  loaf  of  bread  in- 
stead of  a  demijohn  of  whisky  was  berated  for 
his  choice. 

In  the  first  days  of  frontier  life,  our  people 
knew  but  little  about  preparations  for  the  field, 
and  it  took  some  time  to  realize  that  they  were  in 
a  land  where  they  could  not  live  upon  the  country. 
It  was  a  severe  and  lasting  lesson  to  those  using 
tobacco,  when  they  found  themselves  without  it, 
and  so  far  from  civilization  that  there  was  no  op- 
portunity of  replenishing  their  supply.  On  the 
return  from  the  expedition,  the  injuries  as  well  as 
the  enjoyments  are  narrated.  Sometimes,  we 
women,  full  of  sympathy  for  the  privations  that 
had  been  endured,  found  that  these  were  injuries ; 
sometimes  we  discovered  that  imagination  had 
created  them.  We  enjoyed,  maliciously  I  am 
afraid,  the  growling  of  one  man  who  never  erred 
in  any  way,  and  consequently  had  no  margin  for 
any  one  that  did  ;  calculating  and  far  -  seeing  in 
his  life,  he  felt  no  patience  for  those  who,  being 
young,  were  yet  to  learn  these  lessons  of  frugality 


472  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

that  were  born  in  him.  He  was  still  wrathful 
when  he  gave  us  an  account  of  one  we  knew  to  be 
delightfully  impudent  when  he  was  bent  on 
teasing.  When  the  provident  man  untied  the 
strings  of  his  tobacco-pouch,  and  settled  himself 
for  a  smoke,  the  saucy  young  lieutenant  was  sure 
to  stroll  that  way,  and  in  tones  loud  enough  for 
those  near  to  hear  him,  drawl  out,  "I've  got  a 
match  ;  if  any  other  fellow's  got  a  pipe  and  tobac- 
co, I'll  have  a  smoke." 

The  expedition  that  was  to  leave  Fort  Riley  was 
commanded  by  General  Hancock,  then  at  the 
head  of  the  Department  of  the  Missouri.  He  ar- 
rived at  our  post  from  Fort  Leavenworth  with 
seven  companies  of  infantry  and  a  battery  of 
artillery.  His  letters  to  the  Indian  agents  of  the 
various  tribes  give  the  objects  of  the  march  into 
the  Indian  country.  He  wrote  : 

"  I  have  the  honor  to  state,  for  your  information, 
that  I  am  at  present  preparing  an  expedition  to 
the  Plains,  which  will  soon  be  ready  to  move. 
My  object  in  doing  so  at  this  time  is,  to  convince 
the  Indians  within  the  limits  of  this  Department 
that  we  are  able  to  punish  any  of  them  who  may 
molest  travelers  across  the  Plains,  or  who  may 
commit  other  hostilities  against  the  whites.  We 
desire  to  avoid,  if  possible,  any  troubles  with  the 
Indians,  and  to  treat  them  with  justice,  and  ac- 


A  MI  LIT  A  R  Y  LE  TTER.  473 

cording  to  the  requirements  of  our  treaties  with 
them  ;  and  I  wish  especially,  in  my  dealings  with 
them,  to  act  through  the  agents  of  the  Indian 
Department  as  far  as  it  is  possible  to  do  so.  If 
you,  as  their  agent,  can  arrange  these  matters 
satisfactorily  with  them,  we  shall  be  pleased  to 
defer  the  whole  subject  to  you.  In  case  of  your 
inability  to  do  so,  I  would  be  pleased  to  have  you 
accompany  me  when  I  visit  the  country  of  your 
tribes,  to  show  that  the  officers  of  the  Government 
are  acting  in  harmony.  I  shall  be  pleased  to  talk 
with  any  of  the  chiefs  whom  we  may  meet.  I  do 
not  expect  to  make  war  against  any  of  the  Indians 
of  your  agency,  unless  they  commence  war 
against  us." 

In  General  Ouster's  account,  he  says  that  "  the 
Indians  had  been  guilty  of  numerous  thefts  and 
murders  during  the  preceding  summer  and  au- 
tumn, for  none  of  which  had  they  been  called  to 
account.  They  had  attacked  the  stations  of  the 
overland  mail-route,  killed  the  employees,  burned 
the  stations  and  captured  the  stock.  Citizens 
had  been  murdered  in  their  homes  on  the  frontier 
of  Kansas  ;  and  murders  had  been  committed  on 
the  Arkansas  route.  The  principal  perpetrators 
of  these  acts  were  the  Cheyennes  and  Sioux. 
The  agent  of  the  former,  if  not  a  party  to  the 
murder  on  the  Arkansas,  knew  who  the  guilty 


474  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

persons  were,  yet  took  no  steps  to  bring  the  mur- 
derers to  punishment.  Such  a  course  would  have 
interfered  with  his  trade  and  profits.  It  was  not 
to  punish  for  these  sins  of  the  past  that  the 
expedition  was  set  on  foot,  but,  rather,  by  its  im- 
posing appearance  and  its  early  presence  in  the 
Indian  country,  to  check  or  intimidate  the  Indians 
from  a  repetition  of  their  late  conduct.  During 
the  winter  the  leading  chiefs  and  warriors  had 
threatened  that,  as  soon  as  the  grass  was  up,  the 
tribes  would  combine  in  a  united  outbreak  along 
the  entire  frontier." 

There  had  been  little  opportunity  to  put  the  ex- 
pedition out  of  our  minds  for  some  time  previous 
to  its  departure.  The  sound  from  the  black- 
smith's shop,  of  the  shoeing  of  horses,  the  drilling 
on  the  level  ground  outside  of  the  post,  and  the 
loading  of  wagons  about  the  quartermaster  and 
commissary  storehouses,  went  on  all  day  long. 
At  that  time  the  sabre  was  more  in  use  than  it 
was  later,  and  it  seemed  to  me  that  I  could  never 
again  shut  my  ears  to  the  sound  of  the  grindstone, 
when  I  found  that  the  sabres  were  being  sharp- 
ened. The  troopers,  when  mounted,  were  curio- 
sities, and  a  decided  disappointment  to  me.  The 
horse,  when  prepared  for  the  march,  barely  showed 
head  and  tail.  My  ideas  of  the  dashing  trooper 
going  out  to  war,  clad  in  gay  uniform  and  curb- 


A  CUMBERSOME  LOAD. 


475 


ing  a  curvetting  steed,  faded  into  nothingness  be- 
fore the  reality.  Though  the  wrapping  together 
of  the  blanket,  overcoat  and  shelter-tent  is  made 
a  study  of  the  tactics,  it  could  not  be  reduced  to 
anything  but  a  good-sized  roll  at  the  back  of  the 
saddle.  The  carbine  rattled  on  one  side  of  the 
soldier,  slung  from  the  broad  strap  over  his 
shoulder,  while  a  frying-pan,  a  tin-cup,  a  canteen, 
and  a  haversack  of  hard-tack  clattered  and  bobbed 
about  on  his  other  side.  There  were  possibly  a 
hundred  rounds  of  ammunition  in  his  cartridge- 
belt,  which  took  away  all  the  symmetry  that  his 
waist  might  otherwise  have  had.  If  the  company 
commander  was  not  too  strict,  a  short  butcher- 
knife,  thrust  into  a  home-made  leather  case,  kept 
company  with  the  pistol.  It  was  not  a  murder- 
ous weapon,  but  was  used  to  cut  up  game  or  slice 
off  the  bacon,  which,  sputtering  in  the  skillet  at 
evening  camp-fire,  was  the  main  feature  of  the 
soldier's  supper.  The  tin  utensils,  the  carbine  and 
the  sabre,  kept  up  a  continual  din,  as  the  horses 
seemingly  crept  over  the  trail  at  the  rate  of  three 
to  four  miles  an  hour.  In  addition  to  the  cumber- 
some load,  there  were  sometimes  lariats  and  iron 
picket-pins  slung  on  one  side  of  the  saddle,  to 
tether  the  animals  when  they  grazed  at  night. 
There  was  nothing  picturesque  about  this  lumber- 
ing cavalryman,  and,  besides,  our  men  did  not 


476  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

then  sit  their  horses  with  the  serenity  that  they 
eventually  attained.  If  the  beast  shied  or  kicked 
— for  the  poor  thing  was  itself  learning  to  do  sol- 
diering, and  occasionally  flung  out  his  heels,  or 
snatched  the  bit  in  his  mouth  in  protest — it  was  a 
question  whether  the  newly  made  Mars  would 
land  on  the  crupper  or  hang  helplessly  among  the 
domestic  utensils  suspended  to  his  saddle.  How 
sorry  I  was  for  them,  they  were  so  bruised  and 
lamed  by  their  first  lessons  in  horsemanship. 
Every  one  laughed  at  every  one  else,  and  this 
made  it  seem  doubly  trying  to  me.  I  remembered 
my  own  first  lessons  among  fearless  cavalrymen 
— a  picture  of  a  trembling  figure,  about  as  uncer- 
tain in  the  saddle  as  if  it  were  a  wave  of  the  sea, 
the  hands  cold  and  nerveless,  and,  I  regret  to  add, 
the  tears  streaming  down  my  cheeks !  These 
recollections  made  me  writhe  when  I  saw  a  soldier 
describing  an  arc  in  the  air,  and  his  self-freed 
horse  galloping  off  to  the  music  of  tin  and  steel 
in  concert,  for  no  such  compulsory  landing  was 
ever  met,  save  by  a  roar  of  derision  from  the  col- 
umn. Just  in  proportion  as  I  had  suffered  for  their 
misfortunes,  did  I  enjoy  the  men  when,  after 
the  campaign,  they  returned,  perfect  horsemen 
and  with  such  physiques  as  might  serve  for  a 
sculptor's  model. 

At  the  time  the  expedition  formed  at  Fort  Riley, 


INDIAN  WARFARE  A  REALITY. 


477 


I  had  little  realization  what  a  serious  affair  an  In- 
dian campaign  was.  We  had  heard  of  the  out- 
rages committed  on  the  settlers,  the  attacking  of 
the  overland  supply-trains,  and  the  burning  of  the 
stage-stations ;  but  the  rumors  seemed  to  come 
from  so  far  away  that  the  reality  was  never 
brought  home  to  me  until  I  saw  for  myself  what 
horror  attends  Indian  depredations.  Even  a  dis- 
aster to  one  that  seemed  to  be  of  our  own  fam- 
ily failed  to  implant  in  me  that  terror  of  In- 
dians which,  a  month  or  two  later,  I  realized  to  its 
fullest  extent  by  personal  danger.  I  must  tell  my 
reader,  by  going  back  to  the  days  of  the  war, 
something  of  the  one  that  first  showed  us  what 
Indian  warfare  really  was.  It  was  a  sad  prepara- 
tion for  the  campaign  that  followed. 

After  General  Custer  had  been  promoted  from 
a  captain  to  a  brigadier-general,  in  1863,  his  brig- 
ade lay  quietly  in  camp  for  a  few  days,  to  recruit 
before  setting  out  on  another  raid.  This  gave  the 
unusual  privilege  of  lying  in  bed  a  little  later  in 
the  morning,  instead  of  springing  out  before  dawn. 
For  several  mornings  in  succession,  my  husband 
told  me,  he  saw  a  little  boy  steal  through  a  small 
opening  in  the  tent,  take  out  his  clothes  and  boots, 
and  after  a  while  creep  back  with  them,  brushed 
and  folded.  At  last  he  asked  Eliza  where  on 
earth  that  cadaverous  little  image  came  from,  and 


478  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

she  explained  that  it  was  "  a  poor  little  picked 
sparrow  of  a  chile,  who  had  come  hangin'  aroun' 
the  camp-fire,  mos'  starved,"  and  added,  "  Now, 
Ginnel,  you  mustn't  go  and  turn  him  off,  for  he's 
got  nowhar  to  go,  and  'pears  like  he's  crazy  to 
wait  on  you."  The  General  questioned  him,  and 
found  that  the  boy,  being  unhappy  at  home,  had  run 
away.  Enough  of  his  sad  life  was  revealed  to  con- 
vince the  General  that  it  was  useless  to  attempt  to 
return  him  to  his  Eastern  home,  for  he  was  a  de- 
termined little  fellow,  and  there  was  no  question 
that  he  would  have  fled  again.  His  parents  were 
rich,  and  my  husband  evidently  knew  who  they 
were;  but  the  story  was  confidential,  so  I  never 
knew  anything  of  him,  except  that  he  was  always 
showing  signs  of  good-breeding,  even  though  he 
lived  about  the  camp-fire.  A  letter  that  my  hus- 
band wrote  to  his  own  home  at  that  time  spoke  of  a 
hound  puppy  that  one  of  his  soldiers  had  given  to 
him,  and  then  of  a  little  waif,  called  Johnnie, 
whom  he  had  taken  as  his  servant.  "The  boy," 
he  wrote,  "  is  so  fond  of  the  pup  he  takes  him  to 
bed  with  him."  Evidently  the  child  began  his 
service  with  devotion,  for  the  General  adds  :  "  I 
think  he  would  rather  starve  than  to  see  me  go 
hungry.  I  have  dressed  him  in  soldier's  clothes, 
and  he  rides  one  of  my  horses  on  the  march. 
Returning  from  the  march  one  day,  I  found  John- 


DRILLING  A  SERVANT.  479 

nie  with  his  sleeves  rolled  up.  He  had  washed 
all  my  soiled  clothes  and  hung  them  on  the  bushes 
to  dry.  Small  as  he  is,  they  were  very  well  done." 
Soon  after  Johnnie  became  my  husband's  serv- 
ant, we  were  married,  and  I  was  taken  down  to 
the  Virginia  farm-house,  that  was  used  as  brigade 
headquarters.  By  this  time,  Eliza  had  initiated 
the  boy  into  all  kinds  of  work.  She,  in  turn,  fed 
him,  mended  his  clothes,  and  managed  him,  lord- 
ing it  over  the  child  in  a  lofty  but  never  unkind 
manner.  She  had  tried  to  drill  him  to  wait  on  the 
table,  as  she  had  seen  the  duty  performed  on  the 
old  plantation.  At  our  first  dinner  he  was  so 
bashful  I  thought  he  would  drop  everything. 
My  husband  did  not  believe  in  having  a  head  and 
foot  to  the  table  when  we  were  alone,  so  poor  little 
Johnnie  was  asked  to  put  my  plate  beside  the 
General's.  Though  he  was  so  embarrassed  in  this 
new  phase  of  his  life,  he  was  never  so  intimidated 
by  the  responsibility  Eliza  had  pressed  upon  him 
that  he  was  absent-minded  or  confused  regarding 
one  point :  he  invariably  passed  each  dish  to  the 
General  first.  Possibly  my  husband  noticed  it. 
I  certainly  did  not.  There  was  a  pair  of  watchful 
eyes  at  a  crack  in  the  kitchen-door,  which  took  in 
this  little  incident.  One  day  the  General  came 
into  our  room  laughing,  his  eyes  sparkling  with 
fun  over  Eliza's  description  of  how  she  had  noticed 


480  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

Johnnie  always  serving  the  General  first,  and  had 
labored  with  him  in  secret,  to  teach  him  to  wait 
on  the  lady  first.  "It's  manners,"  she  said,  be- 
lieving that  was  a  crushing  argument.  But  John- 
nie, usually  obedient,  persistently  refused,  always 
replying  that  the  General  was  the  one  of  us  two 
that  ranked,  and  he  ought  to  be  served  first. 

At  the  time  of  General  Kilpatrick's  famous  raid, 
when  he  went  to  take  Richmond,  General  Custer 
was  ordered  to  make  a  detour  in  an  opposite  direc- 
tion, in  order  to  deceive  the  Confederate  army  as 
to  the  real  object  to  be  accomplished.  This  ruse 
worked  so  successfully,  that  General  Custer  and 
his  command  were  put  in  so  close  and  dangerous 
a  situation  it  was  with  difficulty  that  any  of  them 
escaped.  The  General  told  me  that  when  the 
pursuit  of  the  enemy  was  hottest,  and  everyone 
doing  his  utmost  to  escape,  he  saw  Johnnie  driv- 
ing a  light  covered  wagon  at  a  gallop,  which  was 
loaded  with  turkeys  and  chickens,  He  had  re- 
ceived his  orders  from  Eliza,  before  setting  out,  to 
bring  back  something  for  the  mess,  and  the  boy 
had  carried  out  her  directions  with  a  vengeance. 
He  impressed  into  his  service  the  establishment 
that  he  drove,  and  filled  it  with  poultry.  Even  in 
the  melee  and  excitement  of  retreat,  the  General 
was  wonderfully  amused,  and  amazed  too,  at  the 
little  fellow's  fearlessness.  He  was  too  fond  of  him 


A  DARING  FORAGER.  481 

to  leave  him  in  danger,  so  he  galloped  in  his  direc- 
tion and  called  to  him,  as  he  stood  up  lashing  his 
horse,  to  abandon  his  capture  or  he  would  be  him- 
self a  prisoner.  The  boy  obeyed,  but  hesitatingly, 
cut  the  harness,  sprang  upon  the  horse's  un- 
saddled back,  and  was  soon  with  the  main  column. 
The  General,  by  this  delay,  was  obliged  to  take  to 
an  open  field  to  avoid  capture,  and  leap  a  high 
fence  in  order  to  overtake  the  retreating  troops. 

He  became  more  and  more  interested  in  the 
boy,  who  was  such  a  combination  of  courage  and 
fidelity,  and  finally  arranged  to  have  him  enlist 
as  a  soldier.  The  war  was  then  drawing  to  its 
close,  and  he  secured  to  the  lad  a  large  bounty, 
which  he  placed  at  interest  for  him,  and  after  the 
surrender  persuaded  Johnnie  to  go  to  school.  It 
was  difficult  to  induce  him  to  leave  ;  but  my  hus- 
band realized  what  injustice  it  was  to  keep  him  in 
the  menial  position  to  which  he  desired  to  return, 
and  finally  left  him,  with  the  belief  that  he  had 
instilled  some  ambition  into  the  boy. 

A  year  and  a  half  afterward,  as  we  were  stand- 
ing on  the  steps  of  the  gallery  of  our  quarters  at 
Fort  Riley,  we  noticed  a  stripling  of  a  lad  walk- 
ing toward  us,  with  his  head  hanging  on  his 
breast,  in  the  shy,  embarrassed  manner  of  one 
who  doubts  his  reception.  With  a  glad  cry,  my 
husband  called  out  that  it  was  Johnnie  Cisco,  and 


482  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

bounded  down  the  steps  to  meet  him.  After  he 
was  assured  of  his  welcome,  he  said  it  was  impos- 
sible for  him  to  stay  away,  he  longed  so  con- 
stantly to  be  again  with  us,  and  added  that  if  we 
would  only  let  him  stay,  he  would  not  care  what 
he  did.  Of  course,  the  General  regretted  the 
giving  up  of  his  school ;  but,  now  that  he  had 
made  the  long  journey,  there  was  no  help  for  it, 
and  he  decided  that  he  should  stay  with  us  until 
he  could  find  him  employment,  for  he  was  deter- 
mined that  he  should  not  re-enlist.  The  boy's  old 
and  tried  friend,  Eliza,  at  once  assumed  her  posi- 
tion of  "missus,"  and,  kind-hearted  tyrant!  gave 
him  every  comfort  and  made  him  her  vassal, 
without  a  remonstrance  from  the  half-grown  man, 
for  he  was  only  too  glad  to  be  in  the  sole  home 
he  knew,  no  matter  on  what  terms.  Soon  after 
his  coming,  the  General  obtained  from  one  of  the 
managers  of  the  Wells-Fargo  Express  Company 
a  place  of  messenger ;  and  the  recommendation  he 
gave  the  boy  for  honesty  and  fidelity  was  con- 
firmed over  and  over  again  by  the  officers  of  the 
express  line.  He  was  known  on  the  entire  route 
from  Ogden  to  Denver,  and  was  entrusted  with 
immense  amounts  of  gold  in  its  transmission  from 
the  Colorado  mines  to  the  States.  Several  times 
he  came  to  our  house  for  a  vacation,  and  my  hus- 
band had  always  the  unvarying  and  genuine 


A  BOY  HERO.  483 

welcome  that  no  one  doubted  when  once  given, 
and  he  did  not  fail  to  praise  and  encourage  the 
friendless  fellow.  Eliza,  after  learning  what  the 
lad  had  passed  through,  in  his  dangers  from 
Indians,  treated  him  like  a  conquering  hero,  but 
alternately  bullied  and  petted  him  still.  At  last 
there  came  a  long  interval  between  his  visits,  and 
my  husband  sent  to  the  express  people  to  inquire. 
Poor  Johnnie  had  gone  like  many  another  brave 
employee  of  that  venturesome  firm.  In  a  coura- 
geous defense  of  the  passengers  and  the  company's 
gold,  when  the  stage  was  attacked,  he  had  been 
killed  by  the  Indians.  Eliza  kept  the  battered 
valise  that  her  favorite  had  left  with  us,  and 
mourned  over  it  as  if  it  had  been  something  hu- 
man. I  found  her  cherishing  the  bag  in  a  hidden 
corner,  and  recalling  to  me,  with  tears,  how 
warm-hearted  Johnnie  was,  saying  that  the  night 
the  news  of  her  old  mother's  death  came  to  her 
from  Virginia,  he  had  sat  up  till  daybreak  to  keep 
the  fire  going.  "  Miss  Libbie,  I  tole  him  to  go  to 
bed,  but  he  said,  '  No,  Eliza,  I  can't  do  it,  when 
you  are  in  trouble  :  when  I  had  no  friends  and 
couldn't  help  myself,  you  helped  me."'  After 
that,  the  lad  was  always  "poor  Johnnie,"  and 
many  a  boy  with  kinsfolk  of  his  own  is  not  more 
sincerely  mourned. 

As  the  days  drew  nearer  for  the  expedition  to 


484  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

set  out,  my  husband  tried  to  keep  my  spirits  up 
by  reminding  me  that  the  council  to  be  held  with 
the  chiefs  of  the  war-like  tribes,  when  they  reach- 
ed that  part  of  the  country  infested  with  the 
marauding  Indians,  was  something  he  hoped 
might  result  in  our  speedy  reunion.  He  endeav- 
ored to  induce  me  to  think,  as  he  did,  that  the 
Indians  would  be  so  impressed  with  the  magni- 
tude of  the  expedition,  that,  after  the  council,  they 
would  accept  terms  and  abandon  the  war-path. 
Eight  companies  of  our  own  regiment  were  going 
out,  and  these,  with  infantry  and  artillery,  made  a 
force  of  fourteen  hundred  men.  It  was  really  a 
large  expedition,  for  the  Plains  ;  but  the  recollec- 
tions of  the  thousands  of  men  in  the  Third 
Cavalry  Division,  which  was  the  General's  com- 
mand during  the  war,  made  the  expedition  seem 
too  small  even  for  safety. 

No  one  can  enumerate  the  terrors,  imaginary 
and  real,  that  filled  the  hearts  of  women  on  the 
border  in  those  desperate  days.  The  buoyancy 
of  my  husband  had  only  a  momentary  effect  in 
the  last  hours  of  his  stay.  That  time  seemed  to 
fly  fast  ;  but  no  amount  of  excitement  and  bustle 
of  preparation  closed  my  eyes,  even  momentarily, 
to  the  dragging  hours  that  awaited  me.  Such 
partings  are  a  torture  that  it  is  difficult  even  to 
refer  to.  My  husband  added  another  struggle  to 


A  SILENT  COLUMN1.  485 

my  lot  by  imploring  me  not  to  let  him  see  the 
tears  that  he  knew,  for  his  sake,  I  could  keep  back 
until  he  was  out  of  sight.  Though  the  band 
played  its  usual  departing  tune,  "  The  Girl  I  Left 
Behind  Me,"  if  there  was  any  music  in  the  notes, 
it  was  all  in  the  minor  key  to  the  men  who  left 
their  wives  behind  them.  No  expedition  goes  out 
with  shout  and  song,  if  loving,  weeping  women 
are  left  behind.  Those  who  have  not  assumed  the, 
voluntary  fetters  that  bind  us  for  weal  or  for  woe, 
and  render  it  impossible  to  escape  suffering  while 
those  we  love  suffer,  or  rejoicing  while  those  to 
whom  we  are  united  are  jubilant,  felt  too  keenly 
for  their  comrades  when  they  watched  them  tear 
themselves  from  clinging  arms  inside  the  thresh- 
old of  their  homes,  even  to  keep  up  the  stream  of 
idle  chaffing  that  only  such  occasions  can  stop. 
There  was  silence  as  the  column  left  the  garrison. 
Alas !  the  closed  houses  they  left  were  as  still  as 
if  death  had  set  its  seal  upon  the  door  ;  no  sound 
but  the  sobbing  and  moans  of  women's  breaking 
hearts. 

Eliza  stood  guard  at  my  door  for  hours  and 
hours,  until  I  had  courage,  and  some  degree  of 
peace,  to  take  up  life  again.  A  loving,  suffering 
woman  came  to  sleep  with  me  for  a  night  or  two. 
The  hours  of  those  first  wakeful  nights  seemed 
endless.  The  anxious,  unhappy  creature  beside 


486  TJ5NTMG  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

me  said,  gently,  in  the  small  hours,  "  Libbie,  are 
you  awake  ?"  "  Oh,  yes,"  I  replied,  "  and  have 
been  for  ever  so  long."  "  What  are  you  doing  ?" 
"  Saying  over  hymns,  snatches  of  poetry,  the 
Lord's  Prayer  backward,  counting,  etc.,  to  try  to 
put  myself  to  sleep."  "  Oh,  say  some  rhyme  to 
me,  in  mercy's  name,  for  I  am  past  all  hope  of 
sleep  while  I  am  so  unhappy  !"  Then  I  repeated, 
over  and  over  again,  a  single  verse,  written,  perhaps, 
by  some  one  who,  like  ourselves,  knew  little  of  the 
genius  of  poetry,  but,  alas  !  much  of  what  makes 
up  the  theme  of  all  the  sad  verses  of  the  world. 

"  There's  something  in  the  parting  hour 

That  chills  the  warmest  heart ; 
But  kindred,  comrade,  lover,  friend, 

Are  fated  all  to  part. 
But  this  I've  seen,  and  many  a  pang 

Has  pressed  it  on  my  mind — 
The  one  that  goes  is  happier 

Than  he  who  stays  behind." 

Perhaps  after  I  had  said  this  and  another  similar 
verse  over  and  over  again,  in  a  sing-song,  droning 
voice,  the  regular  breathing  at  my  side  told  me 
that  the  poor  tired  heart  had  found  temporary  for- 
getfulness  ;  but  when  we  came  to  the  sad  reality 
of  our  lonely  life  next  day,  every  object  in  our 
quarters  reminded  us  what  it  is  to  "  stay  behind." 
There  are  no  lonely  women  who  will  not  realize 
how  the  very  chairs,  or  anything  in  common  use, 


TWILIGHTS  "SOBER  LIVERY."  487 

take  to  themselves  voices  and  call  out  reminders 
of  what  has  been  and  what  now  is.  Fill  up  the 
time  as  we  might,  there  came  each  day,  at 
twilight,  an  hour  that  should  be  left  out  of  every 
solitary  life.  It  is  meant  only  for  the  happy,  who 
need  make  no  subterfuges  to  fill  up  hours  that  are 
already  precious. 


CHAPTER   XV. 

A    PRAIRIE   FIRE LETTERS  FROM  THE  GENERAL LEND- 
ING   A    DOG     FOR   A     BEDFELLOW BEAUTY'S     BOWS 

AND     BEAUX NEGRO    RECRUITS     TURN     THE     POST 

INTO    A    CIRCUS LADIES     FIRED    ON     BY    A     SENTI- 
NEL  THE     SUGAR     MUTINY SMALL-POX     IN     THE 

GARRISON GENERAL     GIBBS     RESTORES     ORDER 

AN    EARTHQUAKE    AT    FORT    RILEY. 

TT  was  a  great  change  for  us  from  the  bustle  and 
excitement  of  the  cavalry,  as  they  prepared 
for  the  expedition,  to  the  dull  routine  of  an  infan- 
try garrison  that  replaced  the  dashing  troopers. 
It  was  intensely  quiet,  and  we  missed  the  clatter 
of  the  horses'  hoofs,  the  click  of  the  curry-comb, 
which  had  come  from  the  stables  at  the  morning 
and  evening  grooming  of  the  animals,  the  voices 
of  the  officers  drilling  the  recruits,  the  constant 
passing  and  repassing  of  mounted  men  in  front  of 
our  quarters ;  above  all,  the  enlivening  trumpet- 
calls  ringing  out  all  day,  and  we  rebelled  at  the 
drum  and  bugle  that  seemed  so  tame  in  contrast. 
There  were  no  more  long  rides  for  me,  for  Custis 
Lee  was  taken  out  at  my  request,  as  I  feared  no 
one  would  give  him  proper  care  at  the  post.  Even 


A  DESOLATE  GARRISON.  489 

the  little  chapel  where  the  officers'  voices  had 
added  their  music  to  the  chants,  was  now  nearly 
deserted.  The  chaplain  was  an  interesting  man, 
and  the  General  and  most  of  the  garrison  had 
attended  the  services  during  the  winter.  Only 
three  women  were  left  to  respond,  and,  as  we  had 
all  been  reared  in  other  churches,  we  quaked  a 
good  deal,  for  fear  our  responses  would  not  come 
in  the  right  place.  They  did  not  lack  in  earnest- 
ness, for  when  had  we  lonely  creatures  such  cause 
to  send  up  petitions  as  at  that  time,  when  those 
for  whom  we  prayed  were  advancing  into  an 
enemy's  country  day  by  day  !  Never  had  the 
beautiful  Litany,  that  asks  deliverance  for  all  in 
trouble,  sorrow,  perplexity,  temptation,  born  such 
significance  to  us  as  then.  No  one  can  dream,  un- 
til it  is  brought  home  to  him,  how  space  doubles, 
trebles,  quadruples,  when  it  is  impossible  to  see 
the  little  wire  that,  fragile  as  it  seems,  chains  one 
to  the  absent.  It  is  difficult  to  realize,  now  that 
our  country  is  cobwebbed  with  telegraph  lines, 
what  a  despairing  feeling  it  was,  in  those  days,  to 
get  far  beyond  the  blessed  nineteenth-century 
mode  of  communication.  He  who  crosses  the 
ocean  knows  a  few  days  of  such  uncertainty,  but 
over  the  pathless  sea  of  Western  prairie  it  was 
chaos,  after  the  sound  of  the  last  horse's  hoof  was 
lost  in  the  distance. 


490 


TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 


We  had  not  been  long"  alone,  when  a  great  dan- 
ger threatened  us.  The  level  plateau  about  our 
post,  and  the  valley  along  the  river  near  us,  were 
covered  with  dry  prairie  grass,  which  grows 
thickly  and  is  matted  down  into  close  clumps.  It 
was  discovered,  one  day,  that  a  narrow  thread  of 
fire  was  creeping  on  in  our  direction,  scorching 
these  tufts  into  shrivelled  brown  patches  that  were 
ominously  smoking  when  first  seen.  As  I  begin 
to  write  of  what  followed,  I  find  it  difficult ;  for 
even  those  living  in  Western  States  and  Territo- 
ries regard  descriptions  of  prairie-fires  as  exagger- 
ated, and  are  apt  to  look  upon  their  own  as  the 
extreme  to  which  they  ever  attain.  I  have  seen 
the  mild  type,  and  knowr  that  a  horseman  rides 
through  such  quiet  conflagrations  in  safety.  The 
trains  on  some  of  our  Western  roads  pass  harmless 
through  belts  of  country  when  the  flames  are  about 
them ;  there  is  no  impending  peril,  because  the 
winds  are  moderate.  When  a  tiny  flame  is  dis- 
covered in  Kansas  or  other  States,  where  the  wind 
blows  a  hurricane  so  much  of  the  time,  there  is  not 
a  moment  to  lose.  Although  we  saw  what  was 
hardly  more  than  a  suspicion  of  smoke,  and  the 
slender,  sinuous,  red  tongue  along  the  ground,  we 
women  had  read  enough  of  the  fires  in  Kansas  to 
know  that  the  small  blaze  meant  that  our  lives 
were  in  jeopardy.  Most  of  us  were  then  unac- 


PRAIRIE  GRASS  ABLAZE.  491 

quainted  with  those  precautions  which  the  experi- 
enced Plains-man  takes,  and,  indeed,  we  had  no 
ranchmen  near  to  set  us  the  example  of  caution 
which  the  frontiersman  so  soon  learns.  We 
should  have  had  furrows  ploughed  around  the  en- 
tire post  in  double  lines,  a  certain  distance  apart, 
to  check  the  approach  of  fire.  There  was  no  time 
to  fight  the  foe  with  a  like  weapon,  by  burning 
over  a  portion  of  the  grass  between  the  advan- 
cing blaze  and  our  post.  The  smoke  rose  higher 
and  higher  beyond  us,  and  curling,  creeping 
fire  began  to  ascend  into  waves  of  flame  with 
alarming  rapidity,  and  in  an  incredibly  short 
time  we  were  overshadowed  with  a  dark  pall  of 
smoke. 

The  Plains  were  then  new  to  us.  It  is  impossible 
to  appreciate  their  vastness  at  first.  The  very 
idea  was  hard  to  realize,  that  from  where  we  lived 
we  looked  on  an  uninterrupted  horizon.  We  felt 
that  it  must  be  the  spot  where  some  one  first  said, 
"  The  sky  fits  close  down  all  around."  It  fills  the 
soul  with  wonder  and  awe  to  look  upon  the  vast- 
ness  of  that  sea  of  land  for  the  first  time.  As  the 
sky  became  lurid,  and  the  blaze  swept  on  toward 
us,  surging  to  and  fro  in  waving  lines  as  it  ap- 
proached nearer  and  nearer,  it  seemed  that  the  end 
of  the  world,  when  all  shall  be  rolled  together  as  a 
scroll,  had  really  come.  The  whole  earth  appeared 


492  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

to  be  on  fire.  The  sky  was  a  sombre  canopy 
above  us,  on  which  flashes  of  brilliant  light  sud- 
denly appeared  as  the  flames  rose,  fanned  by  a 
fresh  gust  of  wind.  There  were  no  screams  nor 
cries,  simply  silent  terror  and  shiverings  of  horror, 
as  we  women  huddled  together  to  watch  the 
remorseless  fiend  advancing  with  what  appeared 
to  be  inevitable  annihilation  of  the  only  shelter 
we  had.  Every  woman's  thoughts  turned  to  her 
natural  protector,  now  far  away,  and  longed  with 
unutterable  longing  for  one  who,  at  the  approach 
of  danger,  stood  like  a  bulwark  of  courage  and 
defense.  The  river  was  half  a  mile  away,  and  our 
feet  could  not  fly  fast  enough  to  reach  the  water 
before  the  enemy  would  be  upon  us.  There  was 
no  such  a  thing  as  a  fire-engine.  The  Government 
then  had  not  even  provided  the  storehouses  and 
quarters  with  the  Babcock  Extinguisher.  We 
were  absolutely  powerless,  and  could  only  fix  our 
fascinated  gaze  upon  the  approaching  foe. 

In  the  midst  of  this  appalling  scene,  we  were 
startled  anew  by  a  roar  and  shout  from  the 
soldiers'  barracks.  Some  one  had,  at  last,  pres- 
ence of  mind  to  marshal  the  men  into  line,  and, 
assuming  the  commanding  tone  that  ensures  action 
and  obedience  in  emergencies,  gave  imperative 
orders.  Every  one — citizen  employees,  soldiers 
and  officers — seized  gunny  sacks,  blankets,  poles, 


CRUSHING  OUT  FIRE. 


493 


anything  available  that  came  in  their  way,  and 
raced  wildly  beyond  the  post  into  the  midst  of  the 
blazing  grass.  Forming  a  cordon,  they  beat  and 
lashed  the  flames  with  the  blankets,  so  twisted  as 
to  deal  powerful  blows.  It  was  a  frenzied  fight. 
The  soldiers  yelled,  swore  and  leaped  frantically 
upon  beds  of  blazing  grass,  condensing  a  lifetime 
of  riotous  energy  into  these  perilous  moments. 
We  women  were  not  breathless  and  trembling  over 
fears  for  ourselves  alone :  our  hearts  were  filled 
with  terror  for  the  brave  men  who  were  working 
for  our  deliverance.  They  were  men  to  whom  we 
had  never  spoken,  nor  were  we  likely  ever  to  speak 
to  them,  so  separated  are  the  soldiers  in  barracks 
from  an  officer's  household.  Sometimes  we  saw 
their  eyes  following  us  respectfully,  as  we  rode 
about  the  garrison,  seeming  to  have  in  them  an  air 
of  possession,  as  if  saying,  "  That's  our  captain's  or 
our  colonel's  wife."  Now,  they  were  showing  their 
loyalty,  for  there  are  always  a  few  of  a  regiment 
left  behind  to  care  for  the  company  property,  or 
to  take  charge  of  the  gardens  for  the  soldiers. 
These  men,  and  all  the  other  brave  fellows  with 
them,  imperiled  their  lives  in  order  that  the 
officers  who  had  gone  out  for  Indian  warfare, 
might  come  home  and  find  "  all's  well."  Let 
soldiers  know  that  a  little  knot  of  women  are 
looking  to  them  as  their  saviors,  and  you  will 


494 


TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 


see  what  nerves  of  iron  they  have,  what  inexhaust- 
ible strength  they  can  exhibit. 

No  sooner  had  the  flames  been  stamped  out  of 
one  portion  of  the  plain,  than  the  whole  body  of 
men  were  obliged  to  rush  off  in  another  direction 
and  begin  the  thrashing  and  tramping  anew.  It 
seemed  to  us  that  there  was  no  such  thing  as 
conquering  anything  so  insidious.  But  the  wind, 
that  had  been  the  cause  of  our  danger,  saved  us 
at  last.  That  very  wind  which  we  had  reviled  all 
winter  for  its  doleful  howrlings  around  our  quar- 
ters and  down  the  chimneys  ;  that  self-same  wrind 
that  had  infuriated  us  by  blowing  our  hats  off 
when  we  went  out  to  walk,  or  impeded  our  steps 
by  twisting  our  skirts  into  hopeless  folds  about 
our  ankles — was  nowr  to  be  our  savior.  Suddenly 
veering,  as  is  its  fashion  in  Kansas,  it  swept  the 
long  tongues  of  flame  over  the  bluffs  beyond  us, 
where  the  lonely  coyote  and  its  mate  were  driven 
into  their  lair.  By  this  vagary  of  the  element, 
that  is  never  anywhere  more  variable  than  in 
Kansas,  our  quarters,  our  few  possessions,  and  no 
doubt  our  lives,  were  saved.  With  faces  begrimed 
and  blistered,  their  clothes  black  with  soot  and 
smoke,  their  hands  burnt  and  numb  from  violent 
effort,  the  soldiers  and  citizen  employees  dragged 
their  exhausted  bodies  back  to  garrison,  and 
dropped  down  anywhere  to  rest. 


A  SOLDIER'S  DEVOTION.  495 

The  tinge  of  green  that  had  begun  to  appear 
was  now  gone,  and  the  charred,  smoke-stained 
earth  spread  as  far  as  we  could  see,  making  more 
desolate  the  arid,  treeless  country  upon  which  we 
looked.  It  was  indeed  a  blackened  and  dismal 
desert  that  encircled  us,  and  we  knew  that  we 
were  deprived  of  the  delight  of  the  tender  green 
of  early  spring,  which  carpets  the  Plains  for  a 
brief  time  before  the  sun  parches  and  turns  to 
russet  and  brown  the  turf  of  our  Western  prairies. 

As  we  sat  on  the  gallery,  grieving  over  this 
ruin  of  spring,  Mrs.  Gibbs  gathered  her  two  boys 
closer  to  her,  as  she  shuddered  over  another  experi- 
ence with  prairie  fire,  where  her  children  were  in 
peril.  The  little  fellows,  in  charge  of  a  soldier, 
were  left  temporarily  on  the  bank  of  a  creek. 
Imagine  the  horror  of  a  mother  who  finds,  as  she 
did,  the  grass  on  fire  and  a  broad  strip  of  flame 
separating  her  from  her  children  !  Before  the 
little  ones  could  follow  their  first  instinct,  and 
thereby  encounter  certain  death  by  attempting  to 
run  through  the  fire  to  their  mother,  the  devoted 
soldier,  who  had  left  them  but  a  moment,  realizing 
that  they  would  instantly  seek  their  mother,  ran 
like  an  antelope  to  where  the  fire-band  narrowed, 
leaped  the  flame,  seized  the  little  men,  and 
plunged  with  mad  strides  to  the  bank  of  the 
creek,  where,  God  be  praised  !  nature  provides 


496  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

a  refuge  from  the  relentless  foe  of  our  Western 
plains. 

In  our  Western  prairie  fires  the  flame  is  often  a 
mile  long,  perhaps  not  rising  over  a  foot  high, 
but,  sweeping  from  six  to  ten  miles  an  hour,  it  re- 
quires the  greatest  exertion  of  the  ranchmen,  with 
all  kinds  of  improvised  flails,  to  beat  out  the  fire. 
The  final  resort  of  a  frontiersman,  if  the  flames  are 
too  much  for  him  to  overcome,  is  to  take  refuge 
with  his  family,  cattle,  horses,  etc.,  in  the  garden, 
where  the  growing  vegetables  make  an  effectual 
protection.  Alas,  when  he  finds  it  safe  to  venture 
from  the  green  oasis,  the  crops  are  not  only  gone, 
but  the  roots  are  burned,  and  the  ground  valueless 
from  the  parching  of  the  terrible  heat.  When  a 
prairie  fire  is  raging  at  ten  miles  an  hour,  the  hur- 
ricane lifts  the  tufts  of  loosened  bunch  grass, 
which  in  occasional  clumps  is  longer  than  the  rest, 
carrying  it  far  beyond  the  main  fire,  and  thus 
starting  a  new  flame.  No  matter  how  weary  the 
pioneer  may  be  after  a  day's  march,  he  neglects 
no  precautions  that  can  secure  him  from  fire.  He 
twists  into  wisp  the  longest  of  the  bunch  grass, 
trailing  it  around  the  camp  ;  the  fire  thus  started  is 
whipped  out  by  the  teamsters,  after  it  has  burned 
over  a  sufficient  area  for  safety.  They  follow  the 
torch  of  the  leader  with  branches  of  the  green  wil- 
low or  twigs  of  cotton-wood  bound  together. 


497 


498  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

The  first  letters,  sent  back  from  the  expedition 
by  scouts,  made  red-letter  days  for  us.  The  offi- 
cial envelope,  stained  with  rain  and  mud,  bursting 
open  with  the  many  pages  crowded  in,  sometimes 
even  tied  with  a  string  by  some  messenger  through 
whose  hands  the  parcel  passed,  told  stories  of  the 
vicissitudes  of  the  missive  in  the  difficult  journey 
to  our  post.  These  letters  gave  accounts  of  the 
march  to  Fort  Lamed,  where  a  great  camp  was 
established,  to  await  the  arrival  of  the  chiefs  with 
whom  the  council  was  to  be  held.  While  the  run- 
ners were  absent  on  their  messages  to  the  tribes, 
some  effort  was  made  to  protect  the  troops  against 
the  still  sharp  winds  of  early  spring.  The  halt 
and  partly  permanent  camp  was  most  fortunate  ; 
for  had  the  troops  been  on  the  march,  a  terrible 
snow-storm  that  ensued  would  have  wrought 
havoc,  for  the  cold  became  so  intense,  and  the 
snow  so  blinding,  it  was  only  through  great  pre- 
cautions that  loss  of  life  was  prevented.  The 
animals  were  given  an  extra  ration  of  oats,  while 
the  guards  were  obliged  to  take  whips  and  strike 
at  the  horses  on  the  picket-line,  to  keep  them  in 
motion  and  prevent  them  from  freezing.  The 
snow  was  eight  inches  deep,  a  remarkable  fall  for 
Kansas  at  that  time  of  the  year.  As  we  read  over 
these  accounts,  which  all  the  letters  contained, 
though  mine  touched  lightly  on  the  subject,  owing 


BORROWING  A  BEDFELLOW.  499 

to  my  husband's  fixed  determination  to  write  of 
the  bright  side,  we  felt  that  we  had  hardly  a  right 
to  our  fires  and  comfortable  quarters.  There  were 
officers  on  the  expedition  who  could  not  keep 
warm.  A  number  were  then  enduring  their  first 
exposure  to  the  elements,  and  I  remember  that 
several,  who  afterward  became  stalwart,  healthy 
men,  were  then  partial  invalids,  owing  to  seden- 
tary life  in  the  States,  delicate  lungs  or  climatic 
influences. 

In  my  husband's  letters  there  was  a  laughable 
description  of  his  lending  his  dog  to  keep  a  friend 
warm.  The  officer  came  into  the  tent  after  dark, 
declaring  that  no  amount  of  bedding  had  any 
effect  in  keeping  out  the  cold,  and  he  had  come 
to  borrow  a  dog,  to  see  if  he  could  have  one  night's 
uninterrupted  rest.  Our  old  hound  was  offered, 
because  he  could  cover  such  a  surface,  for  he  was 
a  big  brute,  and  when  he  once  located  himself  he 
rarely  moved  until  morning.  My  husband  forgot, 
in  giving  Rover  his  recommendation,  to  mention 
a  habit  he  had  of  sleeping  audibly,  besides  a  little 
fashion  of  twitching  his  legs  and  thumping  his 
cumbrous  tail,  in  dreams  that  were  evidently  of 
the  chase,  or  of  battles  he  was  living  over?  in  which 
"  Turk,"  the  bull-dog,  was  being  vanquished.  He 
was  taken  into  the  neighbor's  tent,  and  induced 
to  settle  for  the  night,  after  the  General's  coaxing 


500 


TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 


and  pretense  of  going  to  sleep  beside  him.  Later, 
when  he  went  back  to  see  how  Rover  worked  as 
a  portable  furnace,  he  found  the  officer  sound 
asleep  on  his  back,  emitting  such  nasal  notes  as 
only  a  stout  man  is  equal  to,  while  Rover  lay 
sprawled  over  the  broad  chest  of  his  host,  where 
he  had  crept  after  he  was  asleep,  snoring  with  an 
occasional  interlude  of  a  long-drawn  snort,  intro- 
duced in  a  manner  peculiar  to  fox-hounds.  The 
next  morning  my  husband  was  not  in  the  least 
surprised,  after  what  he  had  seen  the  night  before, 
to  receive  a  call  from  the  officer,  who  presented  a 
request  to  exchange  dogs.  He  said  that  when  he 
made  the  proposal,  he  did  not  expect  to  have  a 
bedfellow  that  would  climb  up  over  his  lungs  and 
crush  all  the  breath  out  of  his  body.  Instead  of 
showing  proper  sympathy,  the  General  threw  him- 
self on  his  pallet  and  roared  with  laughter. 

All  these  camp  incidents  brightened  up  the  long 
letters,  and  kept  me  from  realizing,  as  I  read,  what 
were  the  realities  of  that  march,  undertaken  so 
early  in  the  season.  But  as  the  day  advanced, 
and  the  garrison  exchanged  the  news  contained 
in  all  the  letters  that  had  arrived  from  the  expedi- 
tion, I  could  not  deceive  myself  into  the  belief 
that  the  way  of  our  regiment  had  thus  far  been 
easy. 

With   all    my    endeavors    to    divide    the    day 


TIME  DRAGS,  501 

methodically,  and  enforce  certain  duties  upon 
myself,  knowing  well  that  it  was  my  only  refuge 
from  settled  melancholy,  I  found  time  a  laggard. 
It  is  true,  my  clothes  were  in  a  deplorable  state, 
for  while  our  own  officers  were  with  us  they  looked 
to  us  to  fill  up  their  leisure  hours.  The  General, 
always  devoted  to  his  books,  could  read  in  the 
midst  of  our  noisy  circle  ;  but  I  was  never  permit- 
ted much  opportunity,  and  managed  to  keep  up 
with  the  times  by  my  husband's  account  of  the 
important  news,  and  by  the  agreeable  method  of 
listening  to  the  discussions  of  the  men  upon  topics 
of  the  hour.  If,  while  our  circle  was  intact,  I  tried 
to  sew,  a  ride,  a  walk  or  a  game  of  parlor  croquet 
was  proposed,  to  prevent  my  even  mending  our 
clothing.  Now  that  we  were  alone,  it  was  neces- 
sary to  make  the  needle  fly.  Eliza  was  set  up  with 
a  supply  of  blue-checked  gowns  and  aprons,  while 
my  own  dresses  were  reconstructed,  the  riding- 
habit  was  fortified  with  patches,  and  any  amount 
of  stout  linen  thread  disappeared  in  strengthening 
the  seams ;  for  between  the  hard  riding  and  the 
gales  of  wind  we  encountered,  the  destruction  of 
a  habit  was  rapid. 

Diana,  with  the  elastic  heart  of  a  coquette,  had 
not  only  sped  the  parting,  but  welcomed  the 
coming  guest ;  for  hardly  had  the  sound  of  the 
trumpet  died  away,  before  a  new  officer  began  to 


5O2  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

frequent  our  parlor.  It  was  then  the  fashion  for 
men  to  wear  a  tiny  neck-bow,  called  a  butterfly 
tie.  They  were  made  on  a  pasteboard  founda- 
tion, with  a  bit  of  elastic  cord  to  fasten  them  to 
the  shirt-stud.  I  knew  of  no  pasteboard  nearer 
than  Leavenworth  ;  but  in  the  curly  head  there 
were  devices  to  meet  the  exigency.  I  found 
Diana  with  her  lap  full  of  photographs,  cutting  up 
the  portraits  of  the  departed  beaux,  to  make  ties 
for  the  next.  Whether  the  new  suitor  ever  dis- 
covered that  he  was  wearing  at  his  neck  the  face 
of  a  predecessor,  I  do  not  know  ;  but  this  I  do 
remember,  that  the  jagged,  frayed  appearance 
that  the  girl's  dresses  presented  when  turned 
inside  out,  betrayed  where  the  silk  was  procured 
to  make  the  neck-ties.  She  had  gouged  out  bits 
of  the  material  where  the  skirt  was  turned  in,  and 
when  we  attempted  to  remodel  ourselves  and  cut 
down  the  voluminous  breadths  of  that  time  into 
tightly  gored  princess  gowns,  we  were  put  to  it  to 
make  good  the  deficiencies,  and  "piece  out"  the 
silk  that  had  been  sacrificed  to  her  flirtations. 

Succeeding  letters  from  my  husband  gave  an 
account  of  his  first  experience  with  the  perfidy  of 
the  Indians.  The  council  had  been  held,  and  it 
was  hoped  that  effectual  steps  were  taken  to  estab- 
lish peace.  But,  as  is  afterward  related,  the  chiefs 
gave  them  the  slip  and  deserted  the  village.  Even 


NEGROES  AS  SOLDIERS.  503 

in  the  midst  of  hurried  preparations  to  follow  the 
renegades,  my  husband  stopped,  in  order  that  his 
departure  might  not  make  me  depressed,  to  give 
an  account  of  a  joke  that  they  all  had  on  one  of 
their  number,  who  dared  to  eat  soup  out  of  an 
Indian  kettle  still  simmering  over  the  deserted  fire. 
The  General  pressed  the  retreating  Indians  so 
closely,  the  very  night  of  their  departure,  that 
they  were  obliged  to  divide  into  smaller  detach- 
ments, and  even  the  experienced  plainsmen  could 
no  longer  trace  a  trail. 

Meanwhile,  as  our  officers  were  experiencing  all 
sorts  of  new  phases  in  life  on  their  first  march 
over  the  Plains,  our  vicissitudes  were  increasing  at 
what  seemed  to  be  the  peaceful  Fort  Riley.  I 
had  seen  with  dismay  that  the  cavalry  were  re- 
placed by  negro  infantry,  and  found  that  they 
were  to  garrison  the  post  for  the  summer.  I  had 
never  seen  negroes  as  soldiers,  and  these  raw  re- 
cruits had  come  from  plantations,  where  I  had 
known  enough  of  their  life,  while  in  Texas  and 
Louisiana,  to  realize  what  an  irresponsible,  child's 
existence  it  was.  Entirely  dependent  on  some 
one's  care,  and  without  a  sense  of  obligation  of  any 
kind,  they  were  exempt  from  the  necessity  of 
thinking  about  the  future.  Their  time  had  been 
spent  in  following  the  directions  of  the  overseer 
in  the  corn-field  or  cotton  brake  by  day,  and  be- 


504  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

guiling  the  night  with  the  coon-hunt  or  the  banjo. 
The  early  days  of  their  soldiering  were  a  reign  of 
terror  to  us  women,  in  our  lonely,  unprotected 
homes.  It  was  very  soon  discovered  that  the 
officer  who  commanded  them  was  for  the  first 
time  accustoming  himself  to  colored  troops,  and 
did  not  know  how  to  keep  in  check  the  boister- 
ous, undisciplined  creatures.  He  was  a  courteous, 
quiet  man,  of  scholarly  tastes,  and  evidently  enter- 
tained the  belief  that  moral  suasion  would  event- 
ually effect  any  purpose.  The  negroes,  doubtless 
discovering  what  they  could  do  under  so  mild  a 
commander,  grew  each  day  more  lawless.  They 
used  the  parade-ground,  which  our  officers  had 
consecrated  to  the  most  formal  of  ceremonies, 
like  dress-parades  and  guard-mount,  for  a  play- 
ground ;  turning  hand-springs  all  over  the  sprout- 
ing grass,  and  vaulting  in  leap-frog  over  the  bent 
back  of  a  comrade.  If  it  were  possible  for  people 
in  the  States  to  realize  how  sacred  the  parade- 
ground  of  a  Western  post  is,  how  hurriedly  a 
venturesome  cow  or  loose  horse  is  marshaled  off, 
how  pompously  every  one  performs  the  military 
duties  permitted  on  this  little  square  ;  how  even 
the  color-sergeant,  who  marches  at  measured  gait 
to  take  down  and  furl  the  garrison  flag,  when  the 
evening  gun  announces  that  the  sun  has  been,  by 
the  royal  mandate  of  military  law,  permitted  tc* 


DESECRATED  GROUND. 


505 


set — they  would  then  understand  with  what  per- 
turbation we  women  witnessed  the  desecration 
of  what  had  been  looked  upon  as  hallowed  earth. 
The  sacrilege  of  these  monkey  acrobats  turning 
somersaults  over  the  ground,  their  elongated  heels 
vibrating  in  the  air,  while  they  stood  upon  their 
heads  in  front  of  our  windows,  made  us  very  in- 
dignant. When  one  patted  "juba,"  and  a  group 
danced,  we  seemed  transformed  into  a  discon- 
nected minstrel  show.  There  was  not  a  trace  of 
the  well-conducted  post  of  a  short  time  before. 

All  this  frivolity  was  but  the  prelude  to  serious 
trouble.  The  joy  with  which  the  negroes  came 
into  possession  of  a  gun  for  the  first  time  in  their 
lives,  would  have  been  ludicrous  had  it  not  been 
extremely  dangerous.  They  are  eminently  a  race 
given  over  to  display.  This  was  exhibited  in  their 
attempts  to  make  themselves  marksmen  in  a  single 
day.  One  morning  we  were  startled  by  a  shot 
coming  from  the  barracks.  It  was  followed  by  a 
rush  of  men  out  of  the  doors,  running  wildly 
to  and  fro,  yelling  with  alarm.  We  knew  that 
some  disaster  had  occurred,  and  it  proved  to  be 
the  instant  death  of  a  too  confiding  negro,  who 
had  allowed  himself  to  be  cast  for  the  part  of 
William  Tell's  son.  His  accidental  murderer  was 
a  man  that  had  held  a  gun  in  his  hand  that  week 
for  the  first  time. 


506  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

They  had  no  sort  of  idea  how  to  care  for  their 
health.  The  ration  of  a  soldier  is  so  large  that  a 
man  who  can  eat  it  all  in  a  day  is  renowned  as  a 
glutton.  I  think  but  few  instances  ever  occur 
where  the  entire  ration  is  consumed  by  one  man. 
It  is  not  expected,  and,  fortunately,  with  all  the 
economy  of  the  Government,  the  supply  has  never 
been  cut  down  ;  but  the  surplus  is  sold  and  a  com- 
pany fund  established.  By  this  means,  the  meagre 
fare  is  increased  by  buying  vegetables,  if  it  hap- 
pen to  be  a  land  where  they  can  be  obtained. 
The  negroes,  for  the  first  time  in  possession  of  all 
the  coffee,  pork,  sugar  and  hard-tack  they  wanted, 
ate  inordinately.  There  was  no  one  to  compel 
them  to  cleanliness.  If  a  soldier  in  a  white  regi- 
ment is  very  untidy  the  men  become  indignant, 
and  as  the  voluminous  regulations  provide  direc- 
tions only  for  the  scrubbing  of  the  quarters  and 
not  of  the  men,  they  sometimes  take  the  affair 
into  their  own  hands,  and,  finding  from  their  cap- 
tain that  they  will  not  be  interfered  with,  the  un- 
tidy one  is  taken  on  a  compulsory  journey  to  the 
creek  and  "  ducked  "  until  the  soldiers  consider 
him  endurable.  The  negroes  at  that  time  had  no 
idea  of  encountering  the  chill  of  cold  water  on 
their  tropical  skins,  and  suffered  the  consequences 
very  soon.  Pestilence  broke  out  among  them. 
Small-pox,  black  measles  and  other  contagious  dis- 


INFECTED  AIR.  507 

•eases  raged,  while  the  soldier's  enemy,  scurvy, 
took  possession.  We  were  within  a  stone's-throw 
of  the  barracks.  Of  course  the  illest  among  them 
were  quarantined  in  hospital-tents  outside  the  gar- 
rison ;  but  to  look  over  to  the  infested  barracks 
and  realize  what  lurked  behind  the  walls,  was, 
to  say  the  least,  uncomfortable  for  those  of  us 
who  were  near  enough  to  breathe  almost  the 
same  air. 

Added  to  this,  we  felt  that,  with  so  much  indis- 
criminate firing,  a  shot  might  at  any  time  enter 
our  windows.  One  evening  a  few  women  were 
walking  outside  the  garrison.  Our  limits  were  not 
so  circumscribed,  at  that  time,  as  they  were  in  al- 
most all  the  places  where  I  was  stationed  afterward. 
A  sentinel  always  walked  a  beat  in  front  of  a  small 
arsenal  outside  of  the  post,  and,  overcome  with 
the  grandeur  of  carrying  a  gun  and  wearing  a 
uniform,  he  sought  to  impress  his  soldierly  quali- 
ties on  anyone  approaching  by  a  stentorian  "  Who 
comes  thar  ?  "  It  was  entirely  unnecessary,  as  it 
was  light  enough  to  see  the  fluttering  skirts  of 
women,  for  the  winds  kept  our  drapery  in  con- 
stant motion.  Almost  instantly  after  his  chal- 
lenge, the  flash  of  his  gun  and  the  whiz  of  a 
bullet  past  us  made  us  aware  that  our  lives  were 
spared  only  because  of  his  inaccurate  aim.  Of 
course  that  ended  our  evening  walks,  and  it  was 


508  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

a  great  deprivation,  as  the  monotony  of  a  garrison 
becomes  almost  unbearable. 

There  was  one  person  who  profited  by  the 
presence  of  the  negro  troops.  Our  Eliza  was 
such  a  belle,  that  she  would  have  them  elevated 
into  too  exalted  a  sphere  to  wait  on  us,  had  she 
not  been  accustomed  to  constant  adulation  from 
the  officers'  body-servants  from  the  time,  as  she  ex- 
pressed it,  when  she  "  entered  the  service."  Still, 
it  was  a  distraction,  of  which  she  availed  herself 
in  our  new  post,  to  receive  new  beaux,  tire  of  them, 
quarrel  and  discard  them  for  fresh  victims.  They 
waited  on  her  assiduously,  and  I  suspect  they 
dined  daily  in  our  kitchen,  as  long  as  their  brief 
season  of  favor  lasted.  They  even  sought  to 
curry  favor  with  Eliza  by  gifts  to  me,  snaring 
quail,  imprisoning  them  in  cages  made  of  cracker- 
boxes,  or  bringing  dandelion  greens  or  wild- 
flowers  as  they  appeared  in  the  dells.  For  all 
these  gifts  I  was  duly  grateful,  but  I  was  very 
much  afraid  of  a  negro  soldier,  nevertheless. 

At  last  our  perplexities  and  frights  reached  a 
climax.  One  night  we  heard  the  measured  tramp 
of  feet  over  the  gravel  in  the  road  in  front  of  our 
quarters,  and  they  halted  almost  opposite  our 
windows,  where  we  could  hear  the  voices.  No 
loud  "  Halt,  who  comes  there  !  "  rang  out  on  the 
air,  for  the  sentinel  was  enjoined  to  silence.  Be- 


MARA  UDERS  A  T  NIGHT.  5  09 

ing  frightened,  I  called  to  Eliza.  To  Diana  and  to 
me  she  was  worth  a  corporal's  guard,  and  could  not 
be  equaled  as  a  defender,  solacer  and  general  mana- 
ger of  our  dangerous  situations — indeed,  of  all  our 
affairs.  Eliza  ran  up-stairs  in  response  to  my  cry, 
and  we  watched  with  terror  what  went  on.  It 
soon  was  discovered  to  be  a  mutiny.  The  men 
growled  and  swore,  and  we  could  see  by  their 
threatening  movements  that  they  were  in  a  state 
of  exasperation.  They  demanded  the  command- 
ing officer,  and  as  he  did  not  appear,  they  clenched 
their  fists,  and  looked  at  the  house  as  if  they 
would  tear  it  down,  or  at  least  break  in  the  doors. 
It  seemed  a  desperate  situation  to  us,  for  the 
quarters  were  double,  and  our  gallery  had  no 
division  from  the  neighbors.  If  doors  and  windows 
were  to  be  demolished,  there  would  be  little  hope 
for  ours.  I  knew  of  no  way  by  which  we  could 
ask  help,  as  most  of  the  soldiers  were  colored,  and 
we  felt  sure  that  the  plan,  whatever  it  was,  must 
include  them  all. 

At  last  Eliza  realized  how  terrified  I  was,  and 
gave  up  the  absorbing  watch  she  was  keeping,  for 
her  whole  soul  was  in  the  wrongs,  real  or  fancied, 
of  her  race.  Too  often  had  she  comforted  me  in 
my  fears  to  forget  me  now,  and  an  explanation 
was  given  of  this  alarming  outbreak. 

The  men  had  for  some  time    been  demanding 


5IO  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

the  entire  ration,  and  were  especially  clamorous 
for  all  the  sugar  that  was  issued.  Very  naturally, 
the  captain  had  withheld  the  supernumerary  sup- 
plies, in  order  to  make  company  savings  for  the 
purpose  of  buying  vegetables.  A  mutiny  over 
sugar  may  seem  a  small  affair,  but  it  assumes 
threatening  proportions  wrhen  a  mob  of  menacing, 
furious  men  tramp  up  and  down  in  front  of  one's 
house,  and  there  is  no  safe  place  of  refuge,  nor 
any  one  to  whom  appeal  can  be  made.  Eliza 
kept  up  a  continuous  comforting  and  reassuring, 
but  when  I  reminded  her  that  our  door  had  no 
locks,  or,  rather,  no  keys,  for  it  was  not  the  cus- 
tom to  lock  army  quarters,  she  said,  "  La,  Miss 
Libbie,  they  won't  tech  you  ;  you  dun  wrote  too 
many  letters  for  'em,  and  they'se  got  too  many 
good  vittels  in  your  kitchen  ever  to  'sturb 
you."  Strong  excitement  is  held  to  be  the 
means  of  bringing  out  the  truth,  and  here  were 
the  facts  revealed  that  they  had  been  bountifully 
fed  at  our  expense.  I  had  forgotten  how  much 
ink  I  had  used  in  trying  to  put  down  their  very 
words  in  love-letters,  or  family  epistles  to  the 
Southern  plantation.  The  infuriated  men  had  to 
quiet  down,  for  no  response  came  from  the  com- 
manding officer.  They  found  out,  I  suppose  from 
the  investigations  of  one  acting  as  spy,  and  going 
to  the  rear  of  the  quarters,  that  he  had  disap- 


A   TEMPORARY  CALM.  5  I  i 

peared.  To  our  intense  relief,  they  straggled  off 
until  their  growling  and  muttering  was  lost  in  the 
barracks,  where  they  fortunately  went  to  bed. 
No  steps  were  taken  to  punish  them,  and  at  any 
imaginary  wrong,  they  might  feel,  from  the  suc- 
cess of  this  first  attempt  at  insurrection,  that  it 
was  safe  to  repeat  the  experiment.  We  women 
had  little  expectation  but  that  the  summer  would 
be  one  of  carousal  and  open  rebellion  against  mili- 
tary rule.  The  commanding  officer,  though  very 
retiring,  was  so  courteous  and  kindly  to  all  the 
women  left  in  the  garrison,  that  it  was  difficult  to 
be  angry  with  him  for  his  failure  to  control  the 
troops.  Indeed,  his  was  a  hard  position  to  fill, 
with  a  lot  of  undisciplined,  ignorant,  ungoverned 
creatures,  who  had  never  been  curbed,  except  by 
the  punishment  of  plantation  life. 

Meanwhile  my  letters,  on  which  I  wrote  every 
day,  even  if  there  was  no  opportunity  to  send 
them,  made  mention  of  our  frights  and  uncertain- 
ties. Each  mail  carried  out  letters  from  the 
women  to  the  expedition,  narrating  their  fears. 
We  had  not  the  slightest  idea  that  there  was  a 
remedy.  I  looked  upon  the  summer  as  the  price  I 
was  to  pay  for  the  privilege  of  being  so  far  on  the 
frontier,  so  much  nearer  the  expedition  than  the 
families  of  officers  who  had  gone  East.  With  all 
my  tremors  and  misgivings,  I  had  no  idea  of  re- 


5  I  2  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

treating  to  safe  surroundings,  as  I  should  then 
lose  my  hope  of  eventually  going  out  to  the 
regiment.  It  took  a  long  time  for  our  letters  to 
reach  the  expedition,  and  a  correspondingly  long 
time  for  replies ;  but  the  descriptions  of  the  night 
of  the  mutiny  brought  the  officers  together  in 
council,  and  the  best  disciplinarian  of  our  regiment 
was  immediately  despatched  to  our  relief.  I  knew 
but  little  of  General  Gibbs  at  that  time  ;  my  hus- 
band had  served  with  him  during  the  war,  and 
valued  his  soldierly  ability  and  sincere  friendship. 
He  had  been  terribly  wounded  in  the  Indian  wars 
before  the  Civil  War,  and  was  really  unfit  for  hard 
service,  but  too  soldierly  to  be  willing  to  remain 
at  the  rear.  In  a  week  after  his  arrival  at  our 
post,  there  was  a  marked  difference  in  the  state  of 
affairs.  Out  of  the  seemingly  hopeless  material, 
General  Gibbs  made  soldiers  wrho  were  used  as 
guards  over  Government  property  through  the 
worst  of  the  Indian  country,  and  whose  courage 
was  put  to  the  test  by  frequent  attacks,  where 
they  had  to  defend  themselves  as  well  as  the  sup- 
plies. The  opinion  of  soldier  and  citizen  alike 
underwent  a  change,  regarding  negroes  as  soldiers, 
on  certain  duty  to  which  they  were  fitted.  A 
ranchman,  after  praising  their  fighting,  before  the 
season  was  ended  said,  "  And  plague  on  my  cats 
if  they  don't  like  it." 


UNCERTAIN  TERRA  FIRM  A.  513 

We  soon  found  that  we  had  reached  a  country 
where  the  weather  could  show  more  remarkable 
and  sudden  phases  in  a  given  time  than  any  por- 
tion of  the  United  States.  The  cultivation  of  the 
ground,  planting  of  trees,  and  such  causes,  have 
materially  modified  some,  of  the  extraordinary 
exhibitions  that  we  witnessed  when  Kansas  was 
supposed  to  be  the  great  American  desert.  With 
all  the  surprises  that  the  elements  furnished,  there 
was  one  that  we  would  gladly  have  been  spared. 
One  quiet  day  I  heard  a  great  rumbling  in  the 
direction  of  the  plateau  where  we  had  ridden  so 
much,  as  if  many  prairie-schooners,  heavily  laden, 
were  being  spirited  away  by  the  stampede  of 
mules.  Next,  our  house  began  to  rock,  the  bell  to 
ring,  and  the  pictures  to  vibrate  on  the  wall.  The 
mystery  was  solved  when  we  ran  to  the  gallery, 
and  found  the  garrison  rushing  out  of  barracks 
and  quarters.  Women  and  children  ran  to  the 
parade-ground,  all  hatless,  some  half-dressed. 
Everybody  stared  at  every  one  else,  turned  pale, 
and  gasped  with  fright.  It  was  an  earthquake, 
sufficiently  serious  to  shake  our  stone  quarters  and 
overturn  the  lighter  articles,  while  farther  down 
the  gulley  the  great  stove  at  the  sutler's  store  was 
tumbled  over  and  the  side  of  the  building  broken 
in  by  the  shock.  There  was  a  deep  fissure  in  the 
side  of  the  bank,  and  the  waters  of  the  Big  Blue 


cj  14  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

were  so  agitated  that  the  bed  of  the  river  twelve 
feet  deep  was  plainly  visible. 

The  usual  session  of  the  "  Did-you-evers  "  took 
place,  and  resolutions  were  drawn  up — not  com- 
mitted to  paper,  however — giving  the  opinion  of 
women  on  Kansas  as  a  place  of  residence.  We 
had  gone  through  prairie-fire,  pestilence,  mutiny, 
a  river  freshet,  and  finally,  an  earthquake:  enough 
exciting  events  to  have  been  scattered  through  a 
life-time  were  crowded  into  a  few  weeks.  Yet  in 
these  conclaves,  when  we  sought  sympathy  and 
courage  from  one  another,  there  w^as  never  a  sug- 
gestion of  returning  to  a  well-regulated  climate. 


CHAPTER   XVI. 

EXTRACTS     FROM     GENERAL     CUSTER^S     LETTERS THE 

MARCH    FROM    FORT     RILEY     TO     FORT     HARKER 

DOGS  AND  HORSES  ON  THEIR  FIRST  WESTERN 
CAMPAIGN EXPERIENCES  IN  MESSING  IN  A  COUN- 
TRY VOID  OF  SUPPLIES CHASING  JACK-RABBITS. 

T  HAVE  made  selections  from  General  Ouster's 
letters,  which  will  give  something  of  an  idea 
of  what  the  daily  life  on  the  march  really  was. 
Of  the  many  long  letters  that  came  to  me,  in  spite 
of  the  hundred  drawbacks  that  attended  a  West- 
ern mail,  I  have  only  attempted  to  cull '  those  por- 
tions pertaining  to  the  chase,  the  march,  and  the 
camp  life  after  the  tents  were  pitched  for  the  night. 
General  Custer,  knowing  that  his  official  reports 
would  give  the  military  side,  wrote  comparatively 
little  in  his  home  letters  on  that  subject. 

''CHAPMAN'S  CREEK,  March  27,  1867. 
"We  left  the  bridge  at  Fort  Riley  at  2  :  20,  I 
having  to  wait  for  my  led  horses.  We  passed 
through  Junction  City  without  difficulty,  the  dogs 
behaving  admirably.  We  arrived  here  at  5  :  20, 
our  wagons  reaching  camp  a  few  moments  after- 
ward. I  wish  you  could  have  seen  the  three  of 

515 


516  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

us  eating  our  dinner  of  ham,  chicken,  pickles  and 
coffee.  We  all  agreed  that  we  had  never  tasted 
more  delicious  ham — and  such  biscuit !  I  know 
you  would  have  been  glad  to  see  me  eat.  One  of 
our  officers  says  he  never  saw  such  an  amount  of 
mess  stuff  as  you  have  put  up  for  me.  We  have 
a  splendid  camp,  and  have  found  very  nice  roads 
nearly  all  the  way.  We  are  in  our  tent,  and  en- 
joying a  pleasant  fire  from  our  Sibley  stove.  Four 
of  the  dogs,  fatigued  by  the  first  day's  march,  are 
snoring  round  the  fire  ;  they  had  to  begin  their 
campaigning  by  swimming  the  creek.  The  dogs 
do  splendidly.  The  old  hound  Rover  took  his 
place  alongside  the  table  at  dinner,  as  naturally 
as  if  he  had  been  accustomed  to  it  all  his  life." 

"ABILENE  CREEK,  March  28,  1867. 
"Your  letter  by  Sergeant  Dalton  came  about 
5  o'clock  this  afternoon.  I  need  not  say  how 
glad  I  was  when  I  saw  him  coming  toward  me, 
as  I  instinctively  read  "  Letter  from  somebody  "  on 
his  countenance.  We  left  our  camp  at  Chapman's 
at  8:30  this  morning  ;  the  artillery  and  infantry 
left  earlier.  We  passed  the  infantry  about  five 
miles  out.  Wasn't  I  glad  I  was  not  a  doughboy,* 
as  I  saw  the  poor  fellows  trudging  along  under 
their  heavy  burdens,  while  the  gay,  frolicking 
cavalry-man  rode  by,  carelessly  smoking  his  pipe, 
and  casting  a  look  of  pity  upon  his  more  unfort- 
unate comrades  of  the  infantry.  As  usual,  I 
placed  my  tent  up-stream,  beyond  all  the  others. 
We  have  a  very  pleasant  camp  along  the  west 

*  A  "  doughboy  "  is  a  small,  round  doughnut  served  to  sailors  on 
shipboard,  generally  with  hash.  Early  in  the  Civil  War  the  term 
was  applied  to  the  large  globular  brass  buttons  of  the  infantry 
uniform,  from  which  it  passed,  by  a  natural  transition,  to  the  infan- 
trymen themselves. 


NIGHT  SCENE  IN  THE  TENT 


bank  of  the  creek  ;  good  water,  good  ground,  and 
sufficient  wood  to  make  us  very  comfortable. 
Two  of  us  came  in  advance  with  several  orderlies. 
I  rode  Custis  Lee.  As  soon  as  I  fixed  upon  our  head- 
quarters, I  unsaddled  Lee  and  turned  him  loose 
to  graze.  I  passed  the  time  in  carrying  drift  and 
dry  wood  for  our  camp  and  tent  fire,  as  we  knew 
wood  would  be  in  high  demand  when  the  troops 
reached  the  ground.  We  collected  an  abundant 
supply.  Custis  Lee,  every  few  moments,  as  if  to 
assist  in  the  digestion  of  the  prairie  grass  he  was 
mating,  would  vary  the  monotony  by  lying  down 
and  taking  a  fresh  though  not  hot  roll.  Finally 
he  got  too  near  the  high  bank,  or  declivity,  which 
descends  to  the  edge  of  the  creek,  and  rolled  over 
the  crest,  sliding  down  to  the  foot,  a  distance  of 
several  yards  ;  but  doing  himself  no  injury  what- 
ever, as  he  found  his  way  back  and  went  to  grazing 
immediately. 

"  I  wish  you  could  look  into  my  tent  at  this 
moment.  One  of  the  officers  has  just  taken  his 
second  apple  and  bid  us  good-night.  My  tent- 
mate  has  wound  his  watch,  and  is  carefully  piling 
up  his  garments  near  the  head  of  his  bed,  prepara- 
tory to  retiring.  I  am  seated  at  the  camp-desk, 
writing  by  candle-light.  The  cook's  tent  is  but  a 
few  steps  in  the  rear  of  mine.  It  contains  an 
Irishman,  a  Dutchman  and  an  Englishman,  all 
feeling  good  and  trying  to  talk  at  the  same 
time.  As  I  can  hear  every  word'  they  say, 
it  is  sometimes  laughable.  All  the  camp 
are  asleep,  and  I  am  alone — no,  not  alone,  for, 
casting  your  eyes  to  the  side  of  the  tent, 
you  behold  three  sleepers,  weary  and  travel- 
worn,  as  their  snoring  and  heavy  breathing  be- 
token. They  are  stretched  calmly  upon  the  lowly 
£ouch  of  your  humble  correspondent.  Near  them, 


5  1 8  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

and  on  the  tent  fly  used  to  wrap  my  bedding,  are 
two  other  sleepers,  evidently  overcome  by  fatigue. 
Their  appearance  is  more  youthful,  though  none 
the  less  striking,  than  that  of  the  ones  first  de- 
scribed. The  names  of  the  latter  are  Rover, 
Sharp  and  Lu.  Rover,  being  the  patriarch  of 
the  group,  of  course  selects  his  position  near  the 
pillow  ;  Lu,  being  somewhat  diffident,  accepts  a 
place  nearer  the  foot  ;  while  Sharp,  to  show  him- 
self worthy  of  his  name,  has  crowded  in  between 
the  two,  knowing  it  to  be  the  warmest  spot  he 
could  find.  Rattler  and  Fanny,  being  young  and 
unassuming,  have  graciously  accepted  a  more 
humble  abiding-place  on  the  folded  tent-fly,  near 
the  head  of  the  bed.  I  have  no  doubt,  however, 
that  they  were  induced  to  adopt  this  course,  not  so 
much  from  modesty  as  owing  to  the  fact  that 
nearly  all  the  available  space  in  the  bed  was  taken 
by  their  elders.  I  do  not  think  they  have  stirred  for 
the  last  four  hours.  This  morning  I  wras  taking  a 
nap,  Rover,  Lu  and  Sharp  being  alongside  of 
me  on  the  narrow  bed,  Rattler  and  Fanny  near 
me,  all  of  us  asleep,  when  General  S—  -  called. 
He  laughed  heartily  at  the  sight  ;  but  I  assure 
you  they  are  great  company  to  me,  and  are  as 
completely  domiciled  in  the  tent,  as  if  "  to  the 
manner  born."  Our  dinner  to-day  was  very  good 
indeed  ;  but  I  could  tell  that  Eliza  had  not  been 
within  several  miles  of  my  cook-fire,  leastwise  the 
coffee  did  not  show  it.  The  cook  says  he  put  in  a 
great  deal,  but  that  the  coffee  was  burnt  too  much, 
or  not  enough.  But,  really,  he  does  remarkably 
well  for  a  soldier.  We  have  for  dinner  apple-frit- 
ters, tomatoes,  fried  eggs,  broiled  ham,  cold  bis- 
cuit and  coffee.  For  breakfast  we  are  to  have 
fried  onions,  baked  potatoes,  fried  eggs,  mutton 
chops,  apple-fritters,  and  some  warm  bread.  This 


CAMP  FARE. 


5*9 


full  bill  of  fare  will  not  continue  long  ;  for  it  is 
owing  only  to  your  abundant  providing  of  sup- 
plies. 

"After  dinner  I  told  the  cook  I  was  very  much 
pleased  with  everything  except  the  coffee,  which 
was  not  quite  strong  enough.  I  suppose  Eliza 
will  laugh  at  what  I  next  said,  because  she  knows 
how  I  insist  upon  her  giving  me  a  dish  I  like, 
over  and  over  again,  till  I  tire  of  it.  I  told  the 
cook  that,  as  I  liked  the  apple-fritters  so  much,  he 
might  give  them  to  me  at  every  meal,  until 
further  orders.  They  are  not  exactly  apple-frit- 
ters, but  he  slices  the  apples,  dips  them  in  batter, 
and  fries  them.  Try  it.  He  is  very  neat  thus 
far  ;  the  plates  come  upon  the  table  perfectly 
clean. 

"  There  is  a  tavern  (the  Pioneer  Hotel)  about 
a  mile  from  here.  Three  of  the  officers  asked  and 
received  permission  to  be  absent  long  enough  to 
get  something  to  eat.  If  you  could  see  the  tavern, 
which  does  not  compare  in  outward  appearance 
with  any  log  hut  about  Riley,  you  would  infer 
that  the  bachelors'  mess  was  running  quite  low,  to 
render  such  a  change  necessary. 

"  I  think  I  am  going  to  see  you  soon.  Don't 
think  of  '  Fox  river  ;'  it  is  not  in  our  geography."* 


CREEK,  March  29,  1867.  9  p.  M. 
"  My  tent-mate  has  retired,  thus  leaving  me  alone 
to  write  to  you.  My  bed  is  occupied  as  described 
in  my  last-night's  letter,  with  a  slight  change  in 
names.  We  left  camp  this  morning  at  8,  and 
reached  our  present  one  at  12.  Solomon's 


*  The  allusion  to  Fox  River  has  the  same  significance  as  that  old 
saying,  which  General  Custer  frequently  quoted,  "  Never  cross  a 
bridge  till  you  come  to  it." 


520  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

Creek  at  this  point  is  twelve  feet  deep,  and  re- 
quired a  pontoon  bridge,  the  laying  of  which 
delayed  us  a  half-hour  or  more.  The  troops  had 
all  crossed  safely,  and  part  of  the  wagon-train, 
when  the  ice  from  above  broke  loose  and,  float- 
ing down  against  the  bridge,  carried  it  away, 
sinking  some  of  the  boats  of  the  pontoon  and 
sweeping  others  irrevocably  down-stream,  thus 

verifying  General  S 's  prediction,  and  enabling 

him  to  say  "  I  told  you  so" —  that  the  boats  would 
be  carried  back  to  St  Louis.  We  have  enough 
left,  however,  to  answer  all  purposes. 

"  Just  as  we  were  moving  out  of  our  camp  this 
morning,  wre  started  a  jack-rabbit.  Sharp,  Rover 
and  the  pups  saw  it.  Lu  did  not,  and  away  we 
went,  I  on  Phil  Sheridan.  Sharp  gained  on  and 
almost  caught  it ;  but  with  doubling  and  running 
up-hill  the  advantage  was  in  jack's  favor.  We 
chased  it  nearly  a  mile,  but  did  not  catch  it.  Old 
Rover,  with  the  stick-to-it-iveness  of  a  fox-hound 
when  once  on  a  trail,  was  in  for  making  a  day's 
work  of  it  if  necessary,  but  I  had  to  call  him  off 
and  rejoin  the  column. 

"  Our  mess  is  doing  very  well.  The  apple 
fritters  were  continued  in  our  next,  as  requested  ; 
also  fried  onions,  and  I  ate  one  raw.  '  Make  hay 
while  the  sun  shines,'  is  my  motto  about  onions. 
I  forgot  in  my  last  to  say  that  I  expected  to  hear 
from  Eliza  that  '  she  knew  how  to  make  fritters 
that  way  ;  they  made  'em  so  in  Virginny,"  etc.,  but 
tell  her  I  do  not  believe  it. 

"The  bachelors  fare  badly  as  regards  messing. 
One  of  the  officers  dropped  in  about  dinner-time 
to  see  Captain  Hamilton  and  Lieutenant  Hale. 
They  were  cooking  their  own  dinners,  which  con- 
sisted of  nothing  but  tomatoes  in  a  can  in  which 
the  cooking  was  going  on.  I  do  not  know  whether 


'  ON  THE  MARCH.  5  2  I 

Captain  Hamilton's  distinguished  grandfather, 
Alexander  Hamilton,  was  ever  reduced  to  the 
hardship  of  partaking  of  a  one  -  course  dinner 
cooked  in  a  can,  but  I  am  sure  he  could  not  have 
endured  it  more  uncomplainingly. 

"  Every  officer  has  spoken  to-day  of  having 
nearly  frozen  last  night.  Several  of  them  tell  of  be- 
ing awakened  by  the  cold  at  i  o'clock,  and  of  not 
having  slept  after  that ;  but  I  was  comfortable 
and  slept  reasonably  well." 


"  SALINE,  March  30,  1867. 

"  We  rose  at  5  o'clock  this  morning,  marched  at 
6 145  and  reached  camp  about  i  p.  M.  The  roads 
were  worse  than  usual  to-day ;  but  we  expected 
this,  as  we  were  crossing  over  what  is  called  "  Ten- 
mile  bottom,"  a  very  low  and  wet  strip  of  land. 
The  dogs  are  not  the  slightest  trouble,  following 
me  through  trains,  troops  and  everywhere,  and 
the  moment  I  get  off  my  horse  are  all  around  me. 
They  are  great  company  for  me." 

"i  turn  both  Custis  Lee  and  the  mare  loose 
on  the  prairie  as  soon  as  we  go  into  camp,  and 
they  do  not  attempt  to  leave.  I  found  a  horse- 
shoe to-day,  which,  according  to  our  old  supersti- 
tion, means  good  luck.  I  tied  it  to  my  saddle  for 
that  reason. 

"  I  have  written  every  night,  and  hope  you  re- 
ceive my  letters.  I  will  give  this  to  the  stage- 
driver,  or  mail  it  in  Saline  in  the  morning. 
Remember  me  to  Mrs.  Gibbs,  and  tell  her  that 
if  I  come  across  any  nice  dogs  out  here  I  will  ex- 
press them  to  her  if  she  desires  it.* 


*  Mrs.  Gibbs  was  not  especially  fond  of  dogs,  and  while  we  were 
her  neighbors  our  numerous  family  of  dogs  continually  annoyed 
her,  though  she  never  complained. 


522 


TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 


"Our  dinner  to-day — which,  by  the  way,  was 
most  excellent — was  prepared  over  a  fire  made  of 
dry  weeds,  stalks,  etc.  I  am  very  well.  You 
know  I  always  feel  in  the  best  of  health  and  spirits 
when  on  the  march.  There  is  something  about  a 
horse,  as  you  know,  that  gives  to  his  rider  a  feel- 
ing of  independence,  of  freedom,  and  lightness  of 
heart.  This,  added  to  the  expansion  and  depth 
of  soul  inspired  by  contemplating  these  vast  and 
apparently  boundless  prairies,  seems  to  give  me 
new  life  and  direct  my  mind  into  fresh  but  most 
pleasant  reveries.  There  is  something  grand, 
mingled  with  awe,  in  the  view  of  this  wild  and 
uncultivated  region.  But  to  my  enjoyment  of 
the  march  and  the  changing  scenery,  there  is  a 
most  serious  drawback.  I  know  how  you  would 
enjoy  the  novelty  of  this  first  experience  of  life  on 
the  Plains.  My  hope  in  the  future  is  strong  and 
unfaltering.  I  feel  confident  you  will  soon  be 
with  me,  a  partaker  of  my  pleasures  and  discom- 
forts. 

"  Often,  so  very  often,  when  meditating  on  my 
past  eventful  life,  I  think  of  the  many  reasons  why 
I,  above  my  fellow-men,  should  be  thankful  to 
that  wise  and  good  Being  who  has  borne  me 
through  so  many  scenes  of  danger  unharmed,  and 
through  whose  beneficence  I  have  been  a  recipient 
of  honors  and  pleasures  seldom  heaped  so  bounti- 
fully on  one  so  young  and  unassisted  by  family, 
wealth  or  political  influence.  An  eternity  spent 
in  gratitude  to  the  great  Giver  of  all  things  will 
not  cancel  the  deep  debt  I  feel. 

"  Direct  your  letters  to  Fort  Lamed.  I  hope 
soon  to  write  to  you,  telling  you  to  pack  up 
and  be  ready  to  move  upon  twenty-four  hours' 


notice." 


323 


524  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

"PLUM  CREEK,  Kansas,  April  3,  1867. 

"To-day  the  weather  has  been  quite  cold,  more 
so  than  on  any  previous  day  of  our  march.  Nearly 
all  the  officers,  except  me,  have  been  uncomfort- 
able from  the  cold.  General  Gibbs  was  nearly 
nurnb  while  marching  beside  me  to-day,  and  when 
he  found  I  was  perfectly  comfortable,  exclaimed, 
'  Well,  you  are  a  warm-blooded  cuss.'  I  have  not 
been  to  any  one's  tent  since  we  started,  but  all  the 
officers  have  dined  with  me.  I  drill  every  day 
while  on  the  march,  and  the  companies  are  improv- 
ing rapidly.  Our  march  was  over  comparatively 
good  ground  to-day,  but  at  our  camp-ground  to- 
morrow we  shall  find  no  wood,  I  am  told,  so  Stork 
is  chopping  some  outside  now,  to  carry  along  in 
our  wagon.  One  armful  keeps  our  tent  warm  all 

the  evening.  Colonel  B made  some  biscuit, 

and  sent  them  in  to  me  at  dinner.  They  were  as 
good  as  you  will  find  on  anybody's  table  except 
Eliza's. 

"  I  find  my  horse,  Phil  Sheridan,  incomparable 
in  a  chase  ;  he  enters  into  the  spirit  of  the  sport 
as  much  as  his  rider,  and  follows  the  dogs  almost 
unguided." 

"  Cow  CREEK,  April  4. 

"  A  march  of  twelve  miles  brought  us  to  our 
present  camp  on  a  beautiful,  clear  stream  bearing 
the  unromantic  name  of  Cow  Creek.  Little  wood 
is  to  be  found,  and  that  little  is  green.  We  are 
upon  an  old  Indian  camp,  the  evidences  of  which 
still  remain.  They  have  been  here  within  the  past 
few  weeks.  We  can  see  where  their  lodges  stood — 
some  of  the  poles  still  remaining — and  also  where 
they  have  been  dressing  buffalo-hides.  The  scrap- 
ings and  the  remains  of  one  buffalo  lie  within  fif- 
teen yards  of  my  tent.  On  the  march  to-day  we 


PRAIRIE-DOG  VILLAGE. 


525 


passed  the  carcasses  of  a  number  of  buffalo  which 
have  been  killed  recently,  and  as  we  are  now  in 
their  country  we  expect  to  see  some  to-morrow. 

"  To-day  we  marched  through  a  prairie-dog 
village.  I  wish  you  could  see  Lu  and  the  other 
dogs  among  them.  They  are  quite  saucy,  standing 
up  on  their  little  mounds  and  barking  at  us  until 
we  arrive  within  a  stone's-throw  of  them,  when 
they  pop  out  of  sight.  Lu,  seeing  and  hearing 
them,  would  start  to  run,  thinking  to  catch  them. 
They  would  continue  to  bark,  and  shake  their  tails 
almost  in  her  face,  until  just  before  she  reached 
them,  when  out  of  sight  they  would  go,  as  if  by 
magic,  completely  dumbfounding  the  domestic 
dogs. 

"  This  life  is  new  to  most  of  us  ;  but  there  are 
some  officers  with  the  command  who  have  seen 
some  frontier  duty.  One  was  at  one  time  the 
bearer  of  despatches,  and  rode  from  Fort  Larned 
to  Riley,  151  miles  in  thirty-three  hours,  without 
change  of  horses." 

"  FORT  LARNED,  April  8,  1867. 
"  I  have  not  written  you  for  the  past  two  days, 
for  the  reason  that  no  mail  was  to  be  sent  back  ; 
but  one  leaves  to-night,  and  I  cannot  allow  the 
opportunity  to  go  by  unimproved,  I  am  so  disap- 
pointed when  I  cannot  send  you  a  few  lines  every 
day.  One  of  the  officers  constantly  laughs  at  me 
for  writing  you  so  many  letters,  and  predicts  that 
after  I  have  been  married  a  few  years,  I  will 
neither  write  so  often  nor  such  long  letters.  One 
of  our  officers  told  him  I  had  been  a  benedict 
some  years,  and  there  was  as  yet  no  let-up  in  the 
writing.  .  .  We  expect  to  remain  at  this  post 
several  days,  and  then  move  to  Fort  Dodge, 
about  forty-five  miles  distant. 


526  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

"  On  the  loth  a  grand  council  is  to  take  place 
at  this  point,  between  General  Hancock  and  the 
principal  chiefs  of  the  Cheyennes,  Sioux,  Kiowas, 
and  Arrapahoes.  These  tribes  are  encamped  a 
few  miles  from  here  in  large  numbers.  The  ob- 
ject of  our  march  to  Dodge  is  to  meet  two  or 
three  tribes  that  are  congregated  there.  All  this 
will  consume  ten  or  fifteen  days,  so  that  about 
the  loth  or  i5th  of  May  the  whole  command  will 
be  at  Fort  Hays  and  prepare  for  its  westward 
march.  And  now  comes  my  budget  of  news, 
which  is  authentic  and  of  a  late  date.  It  is  in  the 
highest  degree  cheering  and  encouraging,  Mrs. 
and  others  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding.* 

"  In  the  first  place,  General  Gibbs's  eyes  have 
troubled  him  so  much,  the  last  few  days,  that  I 
do  not  consider  it  prudent  for  him  to  continue  on 
the  march,  although  the  General,  like  the  true 
soldier  he  is,  persists  in  saying  he  is  sufficiently 
well  to  do  so.  I  reported  his  case  to  General 
Hancock  and  General  Smith,  both  of  whom  sug- 
gested his  remaining  at  Larned  until  our  return  ; 
but  it  was  finally  decided  that  he  go  back  to  Riley 
to  command  that  post  temporarily,  as  things 
seemed  to  be  going  at  loose  ends  there.  If  he 
does  come  there,  '  order  will  reign  in  Warsaw.' 
I  am  sorry,  on  my  account,  as  I  shall  regret  the 
loss  of  his  assistance  and  society  ;  but  my  loss 
will  be  your  gain.  He  will  render  you  any  assist- 
ance in  his  power,  in  preparing  for  a  move,  which 
is  nearer  at  hand  than  you  may  suppose.  He 
will  be  a  real  loss  from  our  command,  as,  you 
know,  he  is  so  witty  and  entertaining  he  whiles 
away  many  a  tedious  hour.  This  evening  my 


*  These  were  the  women  in  our  garrison  who  threw  cold  water 
on  my  hopes  of  joining  my  husband  in  the  field. 


AN  EL  DORADO.  527 

tent  has  been  full  of  officers,  and  he  has  been 
giving  a  most  laughable  description  of  his  cross- 
ing Dry  Creek  ! 

"  Now  for  my  second  despatch  from  the 
budget.  The  latest  news  from  '  Fox  River '  is, 
that  the  river  has  dried  up,  and  travelers  can  go 
over  in  safety  and  comfort.  I  have  never  doubted 
that  '  Destiny,'  which  to  me  is  but  another  name 
for  Providence,  would  in  the  future,  as  in  the  past, 
arrange  all  happily  and  satisfactorily.  For  this 
reason,  I  never  entertained  an  anxious  thought 
regarding  our  future  station  or  post,  believing 
that  in  due  time  all  would  be  known.  Accord- 
ingly, I  addressed  a  note  to  General  Hancock, 
saying  that,  without  desiring  to  know  anything  of 
his  future  plans,  I  would  like  to  be  informed  as 
much  as  he  deemed  proper  regarding  the  probabil- 
ity of  officers  of  the  Seventh  Cavalry,  myself  in 
particular,  being  enabled  to  have  our  families 
with  us  the  coming  summer,  and  how  soon  we 
might  expect  to  do  this.  I  inquired  nothing 
more.  You  will  see  by  his  reply,  enclosed,  that 
he  not  only  answered  my  inquiries  fully  and  satis- 
factorily but  added  a  great  deal  of  other  highly 
important  (to  us)  and  equally  pleasant  news.  If 
you  have  not  read  his  letter,  I  might  inform  you 
that  he  is  going  to  assign  me  to  the  command  of 
Fort  Garland.  I  shall  have  four  companies  at 
first,  and  more  later.  Kit  Carson,  a  lieutenant- 
colonel,  will  probably  be  under  my  command. 
One  of  the  officers  with  the  expedition  has  been 
at  Garland,  and  gives  a  glowing  description  of  it 
as  having  good  quarters,  splendid  country  sur- 
rounding, fine  climate,  abundance  of  game,  two 
kinds  of  bear,  black  -  tailed  deer,  antelope  and 
smaller  game,  while  there  is  splendid  trout-fishing 
near  the  post.  From  everything  I  hear,  Fort 


528  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

Garland  is  the  post  of  all  others  in  the  Western 
country  that  would  suit  me,  and  that  I  would  have 
chosen.  It  is  a  very  important  post  for  that  lo- 
cality, and  I  shall  have  control  of  the  Ute  Indians, 
a  large  friendly  tribe.*  It  may  be  that  I  have 
the  sanguine  temperament  which  looks  upon  the 
bright  side  of  everything  in  too  great  a  degree  ; 
but  I  feel  as  if  our  affairs,  everything  considered, 
could  not  be  improved  very  much,  even  had  we 
been  consulted.  We  both  desire  to  see  the  West- 
ern country.  We  shall  enjoy  it  now  more  than 
ever,  as  we  shall  see  it  under  most  favorable 
circumstances,  and  we  shall  appreciate  a  return  to 
the  East  only  the  more  for  having  indulged  in 
wild  Western  life  with  all  its  pleasures  and  excite- 
ments. You  have  been  dreading  an  unsettled 
future,  and  perhaps  separation  ;  but  General 
Hancock  said  to  me  to-day,  '  After  you  reach 
your  post,  I  sha'n't  change  you  unless  you  desire 
it ;  I  will  give  you  a  chance  to  become  settled.' 

"  Now  as  to  my  plans,  prospects  and  intentions, 
subject  to  the  revision  of  Providence  and  the 
military  authorities  :  I  hope  that  we  may  con- 
clude our  present  operations  by  the  i5th  of  May, 
and  that  immediately  thereafter  I  may  hasten  to 
you,  and  we  can  arrange  for  our  Western  tour. 
The  Indian  agents  here  say  the  Indians  desire 
peace  ;  if  so,  they  can  be  accommodated.  I  am 
certain  I  never  felt  more  peaceful  in  my  life. 
Particularly  do  I  desire  peace,  when  I  know  that 
war  means  separation. 

"  Tell  Eliza  that  Stork  has  broken  the  blue  mug 
and  the  mustard-glass,  lost  four  forks,  and  broken 
the  carving-knife,  and  that  I  want  her  to  pack  her 

*  Fort  Garland  was  in  the  mountainous  country  of  Colorado, 
and  the  Indian  difficulties  increased  so  greatly  that  General  Custer 
was  never  sent  to  that  post. 


THE  TUMBLE  OF  A  CAVALRY-MAN. 


529 


valise  and  report  without  delay,  to  be  assigned  to 
the  command  of  the  Dutchman  and  Englishman 
and  the  rest  of  the  strikers.*  I  wouldn't  give 
Eliza  for  all  the  soldier  cooks  I  ever  saw.  When 
she  is  here,  I  never  have  any  trouble  ;  instead  of 
losing  mess  furniture  on  a  march,  I  generally  have 
more  at  its  close  than  at  the  beginning.  One  of 
our  officers  dined  with  me  to-day,  and  complained 
that  their  mess  was  an  'awfully  poor  lay-out.' 
One  after  another  comes  to  my  tent  now  to  ask 
to  arrange  to  be  assigned  to  those  companies  that 
are  to  go  with  me  to  Fort  Garland.  Do  not  tell 
Mrs.  Gibbs  about  the  General's  going  to  Riley,  as 
something  might  happen  to  prevent  it,  and  she 
would  be  disappointed. 

"This  evening,  while  Stork  was  setting  the 
table,  General  Gibbs  and  I  desired  to  write  at 
the  desk  at  the  same  time.  I  said,  '  It's  a  pretty 
thing  that  a  man  cannot  write  to  his  wife  with- 
out being  disturbed,'  and  the  General  replied, 
'  Any  man  who  writes  to  his  wife  once  a  day 
deserves  to  be  disturbed.' 

"As  usual,  we  had  our  daily  sport  with  the 
dogs,  during  which  I  met  with  a  very  unusual  in- 
cident. The  hounds  started  a  jack-rabbit,  and  I 
galloped  after  them  on  Phil.  The  saddle,  not  be- 
ing girthed  tight  enough,  turned,  and  of  course 
carried  me  with  it.  I  broke  my  stirrup  in  trying 
to  regain  my  position,  but  could  not  accomplish 
it,  and  the  next  moment  found  myself  at  full 
length  on  the  prairie,  fortunately  without  scratch 
or  bruise.  Phil's  legs  were  scratched  consider- 
ably by  the  saddle,  but  no  serious  injury  inflicted. 
That  ended  my  first  chase.  About  five  miles 
farther  on,  the  dogs  started  another  immense  rab- 

*  "  Striker  "  was  a  name  for  a  soldier  servant. 


530  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

bit,  and  away  they  went  over  the  level  prairie,  in 
full  view  of  the  entire  command.  The  chase  con- 
tinued for  more  than  a  mile,  a  dozen  dogs  joining 
in  the  pursuit ;  Sharp  in  advance,  followed  closely 
by  Lu  and  three  or  four  strange  dogs,  then  Rover 
and  the  pups.  The  race  was  well  contested  on 
both  sides.  After  running  three-quarters  of  a 
mile,  Sharp  and  Lu  began  gaining  on  the  hare, 
until  the  former  was  apparently  close  enough  to 
touch  it,  when  the  rabbit  suddenly  sprang  to 
one  side,  and  Sharp,  unable  to  check  himself,  ran 
several  yards  beyond.  In  this  way  the  rabbit 
gained  considerably,  and  soon  dogs  and  game 
were  both  lost  to  view  beyond  a  roll  in  the  prairie. 
They  have  all  returned  to  camp  but  Fanny,  and 
she  was  seen  looking  for  the  wagon-train,  so  I  hope 
I  shall  not  lose  her. 

"I  saw  many  strange  and  interesting  sights  to- 
day. Here  and  there  was  a  buffalo  skeleton,  then 
a  prairie-dog  village  with  its  busy  inmates,  and 
once  I  saw  an  owl  slowly  leaving  the  entrance  of 
a  prairie-dog's  home,  thereby  confirming  the  state- 
ment I  have  often  read  in  natural  history,  that  in 
the  home  of  a  prairie-dog  may  be  found  an  owl, 
a  rattle-snake  and  the  prairie-dog  occupying  the 
same  apartment.  To-day,  also,  I  saw  for  the  first 
time  that  peculiar  natural  phenomenon  called 
'  mirage.'  It  presents  the  appearance  of  a  beau- 
tiful lake  at  a  distance  of  five  or  ten  miles.  It  is 
generally  seen  near  trees,  and  the  appearance  of 
the  lake  is  so  perfect  that  the  shadow  or  reflection 
of  the  trees  in  the  water  can  be  plainly  seen  ;  but 
go  to  the  supposed  lake,  and  the  ground  is  per- 
fectly dry,  with  nothing  to  account  for  the  strange 
appearance." 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

EXTRACTS     FROM     LETTERS     TO     GENERAL     CUSTER— 
CROSSING  FOX    RIVER ACCOUNT    OF  THE  UNDISCI- 
PLINED TROOPS — WAR'S  ALARMS — MOURNING  FOR 

CUSTIS    LEE. 

T  T  is  with  extreme  hesitation  that  I  insert  here 
extracts  from  letters  that  are  little  more  than 
the  unrestrained  outpourings  of  a  very  heavy 
heart.  From  the  hundreds  I  have  destroyed,  some 
sentences  have  been  culled,  which,  though  con- 
taining trifling  detail  and  vehement  expressions, 
and,  like  a  school-girl's  letter,  flying  from  one  sub- 
ject to  another,  will  show,  more  clearly  than  any 
description  that  could  be  written  now,  our  life  at 
that  period. 

"FoRT  RILEY,  March,  1867. 

"  I  am  quite  light-hearted  to-night,  as  I  have 
two  letters  from  you.  Though  you  do  say  Fox 
River  is  not  in  our  geography,  it  is  with  the 
greatest  difficulty  that  I  keep  out  of  the  Slough 
of  Despond,  which  one  passes  in  getting  to  that 
stream.  I  cannot  help  worrying  and  bothering,  it 
frets  me  so  to  sit  here  and  hear  that  General  Han- 
cock does  not  intend  to  allow  the  Seventh  Cavalry 
ladies  to  be  with  their  husbands  this  summer.  He 

53i 


532 


TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 


told  the  B—  -'s  so,  and  Mrs.  Gibbs  firmly  believes 
it,  but  I  keep  saying-  to  myself  that  you  think  I 
am  to  be  with  you.  You  are  born  under  a  lucky 
star,  and  I'll  try  to  think  I  am  really  going  to  be 
with  you  soon.  Many  times  a  day  I  go  over  these 
reasonings.  Diana  goes  riding  with  the  infantry 
beau  every  day,  but  she  was  so  accustomed  to  fast 
riding  with  our  cavalry,  she  does  not  know  how  to 
treat  a  dough-boy.  Her  escort  is  lying  by  for  re- 
pairs now.  His  knee  is  very  lame,  and  he  lives 
with  a  jar  of  cold  cream  in  his  hand. 

"  You  would  not  believe  a  garrison  could  go  to 
rack  and  ruin  so  quickly.  Affairs  are  decidedly  at 
loose  ends.  The  darkies  do  very  well  at  guard- 
mounting,  and  all  alone  too.  The  soldiers  of  the 
Seventh  that  are  left  here  scare  the  darkies  fright- 
fully. Yesterday  three  of  our  Seventh  prisoners 
were  out  policing  under  a  darkey.  They  put  a  pistol 
to  his  head,  made  him  drop  his  musket,  tied  his 
hands,  took  him  over  the  river  and  tied  him  to  a  tree, 
then  after  dark  they  deserted.  Was  not  that  high- 
handed ?  Eliza  is  afraid,  and  has  moved  her  room 
up-stairs,  next  to  us.  I  told  the  messenger  that 
took  my  letters  to-day  to  be  sure  and  deliver  them 
to  you  himself,  and  he  said  he  would.  Just  think  ! 
he  is  to  ride  sixty-five  miles  to-day,  and  on  a  mule  ! 
It  must  be  sister  to  Bet,  our  Texas  guide's  mule. 

"  I  have  been  to  church,  and  was  so  afraid  I 
should  cry.  I  could  not  hear  the  sermon,  but  if  I 
cry  I  am  ill  all  next  day.  When  I  was  trying  my 
best  to  keep  from  boo-hooing,  two  darkies  who 
sat  behind  me  began  to  sing  some  of  the  service. 
One  knew  the  tune,  and  shouted  in  regular  camp- 
meeting  style,  but  not  one  word  of  the  hymn 
could  he  utter.  If  I  had  not  been  so  forlorn,  I 
would  have  thought  it  too  funny  to  refrain  from 
laughing  at. 


GARRISON  DE  TAILS.  533 

"  Eliza  dressed  up  to-night  and  went  to  call  on 
the  colored  ladies  of  the  command — the  laun- 
dresses. Miss  Eliza  Brown  is  boiling  with  rage 
now,  because  she  heard  one  husband  say,  '  Fanny, 
light  my  pipe.'  Eliza  says  managing  men  like 
that  is  too  great  drudgery  to  please  her.  Heaven 
knows  this  loneliness  reduces  me  to  such  a  state 
of  mind  that  I'd  light  pipes  and  make  the  fire, 
gladly,  if  I  got  a  chance  to  name  for  whom  I 
wished  to  play  striker. 

"  I  want  you  to  consider  what  is  really  the 
thickness  of  the  heads  of  our  country's  defenders ! 
A  broken  musket  was  found  on  the  outskirts  of 
the  garrison,  and  it  proved  to  have  been  divided 
in  two  by  a  blow  over  a  darkey's  head.  The  mus- 
ket is  ruined,  but  as  yet  we  have  not  heard  of  any 
suffering  skull.  The  hours  you  give  me  when 
others  are  asleep,  I  know  well  how  to  prize.  I  am 
alone  to-night  again,  but  not  alone,  for  I  am  re- 
reading the  letters  you  sat  up  so  late  to  write. 

.  .  .  The  wild  geese  have  been  screaming  as 
they  flew  over  our  post,  and  I.  suppose  the  rain  is 
about  to  descend  in  bucketfuls.  Well,  we  are 
prepared,  but  I  hope  you  out  in  camp  will  be 
spared.  The  darkies  are  going  on  as  usual,  slack 
and  careless.  If  they  guard  our  white  prisoners, 
they  say  good-naturedly,  '  Oh,  sit  down,  if  you're 
tired.  PIT  watch  if  any  one  comes.'  Eliza  has 
some  beaux,  but  is  not  over-gracious.  One  of 
them,  speaking  of  our  bull-dog  Turk,  said  he  had 
heard  that  he  was  '  a  awful  ferocious  dog.' 
Eliza  quickly  assured  him  that  it  was  true  ;  he 
would  take  hold  of  any  one  who  came  near  him. 
She  never  mentioned  that  Turk's  teeth  are  so 
blunted  by  constant  biting  at  his  rope  or  chain 
that  he  is  not  in  the  least  dangerous.  Diana's 
beau  has  begun  to  read  Prescott's  '  Philip  the 


534  TMttT/NG  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

Second,'  so  I  get  some  good  out  of  his  prolonged 
sessions,  and  it  whiles  away  the  tedious  time. 

"  I  am  so  sorry  about drinking.  It  looks 

as  if  he  were  glad  to  get  his  wife  safely  off  in  the 
States,  as  he  did  before  he  left,  so  that  he  could 
make  a  summer  of  it.  If  men  only  knew  '  how 
pleasant,  how  divinely  fair,'  it  makes  the  world 
to  their  wives  when  they  refuse  to  drink,  I  do  not 
believe  they  would  be  half  so  careless. 

"  How  I  wish  that  you  were  here  to  enjoy  this 
bright  fire  !  The  wind  is  howling  and  screeching 
round  the  quarters,  and  it  makes  me  wish  so  that 
you  were  safely  housed. 

"  I  hear  to-night  that  three  commissioners  have 
gone  to  Washington,  from  the  Department  of  the 
Platte,  to  petition  that  no  war  against  the  Indians 
take  place.  An  officer,  a  citizen  and  a  Congress- 
man compose  the  commission.  Oh!  I  do  hope 
they  will  be  successful." 

"  April  4,  1867. 

"  It  is  blowing  hard,  and  trying  to  snow.  The. 
wind  makes  such  noises  down  chimney,  and  am 
so  frightened  !  I  feel  sure  it  is  burglars,  and  I  lie 
there  so  scared  I  cannot  sleep.  It  isn't  the  thing 
to  be  frightened,  is  it  ?  But  this  is  such  a  screechy 
place,  I  cannot  help  it,  and  forget  all  about  the 
requirements  of  a  soldier's  wife.  Your  former 

enemy, ,  came  upon  me  so  suddenly  to-day 

that  I  did  not  succeed  in  escaping  him  as  hereto- 
fore. I  didn't  promise  you  that  I  wouldn't  dodge 
him  on  every  occasion  ;  I  made  a  'mental  .reser- 
vation,' you  see.  I  could  not  slip  away  without 
his  seeing  me,  and  then  I  was  obliged  to  remember 
your  wishes  and  shake  hands.  You  know  you  did 
not  tell  me  that  you  did  not  want  me  to  hide, 
so  I  have  been  very  successful  in  accomplishing 


RUMORS  OF  INDIANS. 


535 


that  heretofore.  He  hopes  for  further  promotion. 
Anything,  I  say,  that  will  take  him  out  of  the 
Seventh.  You  may  believe  all  he  says  about  ex- 
pecting promotion,  but  I  don't.  I  could  hardly 
refrain  from  saying  sharp  things  in  reply.  But 
you  can  rest  easy  ;  I  shook  hands,  held  my  tongue, 
and  did  the  decorous,  just  as  you  would  ask  me 
to  do  if  you  were  here.  Still,  when  Diana  ap- 
peared at  the  door,  I  could  not  help  an  implor- 
ing glance,  which  she  interpreted  at  once  and 
called  loudly  for  me,  and  I  escaped.  A  citizen 
has  come  into  the  post  from  Denver,  and  says  the 
Indians  are  attacking  the  stage-stations.  But  I 
am  determined  not  to  be  alarmed.  It  is  sufficiently 
difficult  for  me  to  battle  with  the  one  trouble,  this 
loneliness  and  separation  (and,  oh,  it  is  so  hard  to 
stand  it !)  without  believing  in  addition  every 
rumor  about  Indians. 

"  Tom  says  he  does  not  have  the  charge  of  this 
house  now,  as  the  colored  ordnance  sergeant  has 
assumed  the  entire  responsibility.  It  is  too  funny 
to  see  him  walking  about,  having  the  wood  piled 
and  the  yard  cleaned.  So  much  for  Eliza  and  her 
charms  2 " 

"April  5,  1867. 

"  I  suppose  the  streams  must  have  risen  and 
delayed  the  mails ;  for  our  river  is  up,  and  the 
bridge  gone,  with  hourly  expectation  that  the  rail- 
road bridge  will  go.  The  operator  here  reports 
that  a  despatch  from  General  Hancock  has  been 
sent  from  him  saying  that  he  had  a  fight  with 
the  Indians  near  Harker.  I  do  not  believe  it,  but 
I  am  so  foolish  I  cannot  help  being  uneasy.  Oh, 
dear,  what  a  way  to  live — one  here  and  the  other 
so  far  off  !  Won't  you  put  an  end  to  it,  and  de- 
sert ?  How  I  wish  I  had  the  six  days  with  you 


536  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

that  I  spent  going  to  St.  Louis  for  Ristori !  What 
a  noodle  I  was  to  leave  you !  An  account  comes 
to  us  through  the  Washington  Chronicle,  of  a  mas- 
sacre at  Fort  Buford,  Dakota.  The  colonel  in 
command  is  reported  as  having  written  all  winter 
for  re-inforcements,  but  said  he  would  fight,  if 
he  was  attacked,  as  long  as  he  could  hold  out. 
And  so  he  did,  for  eighty  men  held  off  three 
thousand  Indians.  When  it  was  no  longer  pos- 
sible to  make  a  further  stand,  the  colonel  shot 
his  wife,  and  the  command  were  finally  all  killed. 
Is  it  not  horrible,  and  it  makes  me  so  sad,  but  I 
beg  you  will  not  think  me  utterly  forlorn.  There 
is  a  fate  far  harder ;  it  is  never  to  have  had,  as 
many  have  not,  the  hours  that  already  belong  to 
us  and  cannot  be  taken  away. 

"  You  will  laugh  at  my  religion,  I'm  afraid,  when 
I  tell  you  I  hurried  out  of  church,  so  as  not  to  be 
obliged  to  speak  to  your  enemy !  But  do  not  be 
worried  ;  I  will  do  what  you  wish  ;  I  will  go  and 
call  on  his  wife,  and  do  the  polite. 

",The  river  is  something  terrific.  The  oldest  in- 
habitant says  it  has  never  been  so  high.  It  is 
over  the  railroad  track. 

"  You  should  see  this  post !  It  is,  everyone  says, 
the  most  thoroughly  run-down  and  utterly  uncared- 
for  and  shiftless  place  they  ever  saw.  The  one 
darkey  bugler  sounds  every  call  on  the  board — at 
least,  at  the  houi>  of  every  call  the  cavalry  used  to 
hear,  the  bugler  toots  something  so  absurd,  and  as 
much  like  the  true  call  as  a  cow's  low.  Shots  are 
fired  constantly.  You  should  have  seen  the  parade- 
ground  this  afternoon !  It  would  have  driven 
an  officer  given  'to  order  and  discipline  to  the 
verge  of  distraction.  The  '  black-faced  and  shiney- 
eyed 7  were  drilling  right  on  the  grass  of  the 
parade-ground,  which  is  just  beginning  to  show 


ORDER  IN  WARSAW. 


537 


itself  green.  While  the  sergeant  drilled  one  squad, 
another  rolled  on  the  ground,  or  ran  around  on  all 
fours,  like  apes.  Then  an  old  cow  has  been  pas- 
turing herself  on  the  parade  unmolested.  Teams 
of  luggage,  dogs,  horsemen,  mulemen,  cross  and 
recross  at  will.  Really,  if  I  were  not  afraid,  these 
things  would  be  very  funny.  A  lieutenant  was 
passing  the  guard-house  when  a  negro  sentinel 
called  out,  '  Turn  out  the  guard  for  the  command- 
ing-officer ! '  He  was  full  of  amusement,  but  only 
said  quietly,  '  Never  mind  the  guard,'  and  then 
hurried  up  to  laugh  with  us  about  their  so  saluting 
a  lieutenant.  The  sergeant  called  the  darkies 
down  from  the  upper  porch  of  the  barracks  to 
reveille — '  No,  sar,  too  cold  down  thar;'  and  they 
didn't  come.  We  are  glad  General  Gibbs  is 
coming  to  restore  order  to  Warsaw,  as  you  express 
it.  No  one  feels  safe  with  the  present  state  of 
affairs  in  the  garrison. " 

"April  18,  1867. 

"  General  Gibbs  has  come,  and  we  are  delighted 
and  relieved  to  have  him  here.  He  teases  me 
about  my  numerous  letters  to  you  ;  says  you 
are  all  the  time  writing  to  me,  and  that  you  keep 
a  letter  of  mine  in  your  pocket  constantly,  and 
pull  it  out  and  read  it  whenever  the  least  oppor- 
tunity offers.  But  I  don't  care  if  he  does  make 
fun  of  us  ;  I  shall  keep  on  writing  daily.  He  has 
begun  to  make  a  change  in  the  condition  of  the 
garrison  already.  After  the  darkey  shot  his  com- 
rade, all  their  ammunition  was  taken  from  them. 
The  colored  troops  no  longer  dry  their  clothes  on 
the  parade-ground. 

"  Our  dear  Ginnie  is  so  unhappy  about  her  dead 
puppies  ;  Eliza  declares  she  has  been  trying  to 
bury  herself  to-day.  She  did  dig  two  holes,  and 


538  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

tried  to  lay  herself  out  flat  in  each  one.  Dog  sor- 
rows are  pretty  hard,  as  well  as  human  troubles. 
The  setter  puppies  are  doing  well,  and  Turk  looks 
so  fine  that  people  want  to  buy  him.  The  Gibbs 
boys,  Alfred  and  Blair,  are  the  dearest,  most  capti- 
vating children.  Don't  forget  the  arrows  for  them. 

Mrs.  Gibbs  had  a  tin-type  taken  in  Junction 
City,  and  the  boys  posed  themselves.  What  do  you 
think  !  Each  boy  had  placed  one  hand  on  the 
mother's  shoulder.  We  said  they  were  her  brevets. 
There  could  be  no  shoulder-straps  more  lovely 
than  those  dimpled  hands.  Blair  lisps  and  asks, 
'Mother,  what  is  a  brevet;  is  it  a  make-believe 
soldier  ?'  and  the  manner  in  which  they  are  admin- 
istered to  men  who  never  smelled  powder,  makes 
me  feel  that  it  is  a  good  definition  sometimes. 

"  In  your  two  last  letters  you  caution  me  not  to 
feel  any  anxiety  about  the  news  of  your  pursuit  of 
the  Indians  ;  but  my  nature  would  be  changed 
indeed  if  I  did  not  feel  worried.  You  know  what 
I  have  at  stake,  and  I  cannot  control  my  feelings. 
What  a  miserable,  treacherous  set  the  Indians 
are !  All  that  is  left  me  is  to  implore  the  kind 
Father  to  hold  you  in  the  hollow  of  His  hand,  as 
He  has  done  in  times  past.  I  am  glad  you  wrote 
me  about  your  intended  pursuit  of  the  Indians, 
for  you  know  I  shall  have  to  hear  all  sorts  of  gar- 
bled reports,  which  alarm  me  far  more  than  the 
plain  statement  you  make  in  your  letter.  I  am 
going  at  myself  with  whip  and  spur,  and  shall 
take  up  such  work  as  will  keep  me  from  being 
utterly  forlorn.  But,  oh,  what  thoughts  get 
sewed  into  my  work  !" 

"April  20,  1867. 

"  My  letters  from  you  do  not  come  regularly — 
two  or  three  at  a  time,  and  days  intervening  with- 


A  GLOOMY  PREDICTION.  539 

out  any.  Oh  !  what  a  shattering  of  hopes  each 
day,  when  one  is  subjected  to  the  uncertainty  of  a 
mail  by  stage. 

"Our  Seventh  Cavalry  band  is  going  to  be 
splendid,  under  General  Gibbs's  organization.  It 
seems  good  to  hear  the  clank  of  sabres,  as  the 
men  passed.  Almost  the  only  cavalrymen  we 
see  are  in  the  hospital,  which  we  visit.  We  are 
trying  to  make  out  a  list  of  music  for  the  band. 
The  best  notes  I  hear  now  are  those  of  a 
little  bird  that  sits  on  a  branch  of  a  tree  on  the 
parade-ground,  and  sings  as  if  his  throat  would 
burst,  even  at  his  go-to-sleep  song.  But  there  is 
a  great  ache  that  keeps  up  since  the  receipt  of  the 
news  of  your  pursuit  of  the  Indians.  Just  think 
how  hard  it  is  for  me,  when  an  old  officer  who 
was  passing  through  here  and  called,  told  me  he 
thought,  now  you  had  started  in  pursuit,  you 
were  not  likely  to  be  in  till  October  !  His  opinion  is 
based  on  his  forty  years'  experience  in  the  West. 
He  is  a  lovely  old  man,  even  if  he  does  talk  so 
discouragingly,  and  I  intend  to  ask  him  to  dine 
before  he  goes — that  is,  if  I  get  good  news  from 
you. 

"  We  do  get  such  glimpses  of  brightness  from 
the  band-practice,  and  Diana  has  kept  one  beau 
at  the  East  in  a  sufficiently  deluded  state  to  send 
her  a  box  of  candy  by  mail.  Nothing  brightens 
me  up  long,  nowadays,  I  feel  so  old,  and  such  an 
apathy  comes  over  me  for  the  events  of  daily  life, 
now  that  I  am  so  anxious. 

"  Tom  thinks  himself  abused,  because  all  day 
long  I  keep  asking  him  for  the  time — the  day 
seems  so  long.  At  night  I  write  to  you,  and 
Diana  is  so  taken  up  with  her  infantry  man  that 
time  does  not  drag  in  the  least.  Tom  is  forgot- 
ten, and  grumbles  audibly.  He  pretends  to 


54-O  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

be  afraid  to  come  down-stairs  at  night,  since 
Diana  has  loaded  her  pistol  to  protect  us.  He 
fears  we  will  not  discriminate  between  a  negro 
and  a  brother !  " 

"April  22,  1867. 

"  I  confess  to  being  very  unhappy.  My  hopes 
and  fears  agitate  me  so,  for  fear  of  the  sudden  de- 
camping of  those  treacherous  rascals  will  keep  you 
chasing  them,  and  going  farther  and  farther  from 
me,  leaving  the  summer  to  drag  on  without  you ! 
I  am  tormented  with  anxieties  that  I  cannot  over- 
come. I  look  out  so  startled,  if  a  mounted  man 
passes  our  house,  fearing  he  is  the  bearer  of  bad 
tidings.  It  exasperates  me  and  fills  me  with  sus- 
pense, to  hear  people  going  up  and  down  the  steps 
of  the  commanding  officer's  house  next  door,  for 
I  constantly  think  it  is  an  orderly  with  a  letter. 

"I  am  put  out  with  the  quartermaster  from  De- 
partment Headquarters.  I  asked  him  about  the 
application  that  you  made  to  buy  an  ambulance. 
'  Oh,  yes,'  he  said,  '  it  had  come,  but  was  waiting 
for  the  commanding  officer  to  sign  it.'  The  delay 
is  vexatious,  for  it  is  so  necessary  to  have  a  wagon 
ready  in  case  I  can  get  a  chance  to  go  to 
you.  He  promised  to  '  look  it  up,'  How  little  he 
cares,  in  his  comfortable,  safe  quarters  at  Leaven- 
worth,  whether  an  anxious  wife  gets  a  wagon  tc 
go  to  her  husband  !  I  am  disappointed  about  not 
getting  the  mail.  Your  letters  are  the  life  of  my 
day.  The  river  is  so  high  that  nothing  can  cross  ; 
consequently,  as  you  may  surmise,  Fox  River  has 
risen  also.  I  found  a  horse-shoe  in  our  walk  to- 
day, and  I  am  trying  to  remember  that  you  con- 
sider it  a  harbinger  of  good  times.  My  birth- 
day was  not  the  gay,  happy  affair  that  it  is 
when  you  are  here.  Diana  gave  me  a  book  of 


A  PROBLEMATIC  WORD. 


541 


poetry,  which  one  of  her  citizen  beaux  had  given 
to  her — someone  she's  tired  of.  But  I  enjoy  the 
book,  all  the  same. 

"  I  have  been  answering  two  of  Eliza's  letters 
to-night,  to  her  brunette  beaux. 

"This  is  such  a  country  to  live  in.  At  Whisky 
Point,  near  here,  a  man  shot  his  wife.  He  then 
called  in  the  neighbors,  threatened  to  kill  them  if 
they  advanced,  disposed  of  his  property,  and  shot 
himself.  A  few  days  afterward  a  man  who  kept 
the  mess-house,  near  the  stables,  went  over  to 
Whisky  Point  and  cut  his  throat  from  ear  to  ear. 

"  Since  I  began  my  doleful  epistle,  three  great 
gorgeous  letters  have  come  from  you,  and  it 
makes  me  feel  good  all  over." 

"April  23,  1867. 

"This  morning  Eliza  came  before  I  was  up  and 
said,  '  Miss  Libbie,  here's  a  letter  ! "  I  was  up  in 
a  twinkling,  but  so  provoked  to  find  it  was  not 
from  you  that  I  crept  into  bed  again.  Finally, 

I  arose  and  found  it  was  from   Colonel  W , 

whom,  it  seems,  you  asked  to  write  me.  The 
writing  was  particularly  hieroglyphic,  and  I  was 
enraged  at  such  carelessness.  One  word,  which  I 
wished  to  know  of  all  others,  I  cannot  make  out, 
neither  can  the  General,  the  adjutant,  Tom,  or 
Diana.  It  says,  'Your  husband  reports  the 

Indians 3  if  uandeved,  and  will  return   in  two 

days,  when  we  will  then  go  on  to  Fort  Dodge.' 
Was  there  ever  anything  so  exasperating  ?  The 
very  word  I  am  all  anxiety  to  know,  whether  the 
Indians  have  surrendered  or  if  they  have  fled  be- 
yond recall,  or  if  it  means  war  all  summer.  Mine 
is  the  only  letter  giving  any  news,  and  here  we 
are  unable  to  make  it  out.  It  was  very  good  of 
him  to  write,  but  how  can  I  wait  to  know  what 


542 


TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 


his  letter  really  means  ?  While  I  am  writ- 
ing, Tom  comes  in  with  a  startling1  account 
of  the  Indians  having  drawn  off  all  our  troops 
by  a  feint,  a  small  number  of  their  own  showing 
themselves,  while  the  main  body  came  in  behind 
and  captured  Fort  Larned.  Oh,  dear  !  if  these 
hateful  reports  would  not  get  circulated  as  they 
do,  life  would  not  be  so  hard. 

"  We  have  heard  rumors,  also,  of  the  burning  of 
the  stage-station  beyond  Fort  Hays.  But  are  there 
any  stampeders  like  stage  people  and  teamsters  ? 
My  mind  is  full  of  miserable  conjectures,  and  I 
cannot  help  impatience  and  fretting  at  living  in  a 
country  with  no  railroad  or  telegraph. 

"I  have  just  heard,  through  a  letter  received  in 
garrison,  that  you  shot  Custis  Lee  in  a  buffalo- 
hunt. 

"  Do  not  be  troubled  for  fear  I  shall  be  inconsol- 
able over  my  dear  horse.  You  well  know  what  a 
loss  he  is  to  me.  I  shall  never  become  so  attached 
to  an  animal  again.  It  was  so  strange  that  a 
dumb  brute  could  seem  to  be  so  in  sympathy  with 
me  as  he  did.  Can't  you  see  him  when  you  would 
say,  *  Give  Custis  Lee  the  rein,  Libbie,'  and  I  would 
repeat  the  message  to  him,  following  up  the 
slackening  of  the  bridle  with  my  hand  on  his 
beautiful  glossy  neck,  to  tell  him  by  a  loving  pat 
that  we  were  to  do  our  best,  how  he  shot  off  over 
the  level  road,  enjoying  the  speed  as  much  as  we 
did  ?  To  tell  you  the  truth,  he  won  me  first  when 
I  found  we  shared  our  scares  together.  He  did 
not  bound  to  one  side  and  leaving  me  anywhere 
in  the  air,  as  Phil  does  when  he  is  frightened  ;  he 
is  so  selfish  he  has  all  his  scare  to  himself,  but 
Custis  Lee  stood  quivering  under  me,  trying  to 
face  danger  for  my  sake  just  as  faithfully  as  if 
he  was  a  reasoning  being,  and  knew  well  that  he 


A  DISCONSOLATE  LOOKOUT. 


543 


carried  a  bundle  of  quivers  and  tremors  on  his 
back,  which  tried  to  encourage  him,  though  in  a 
very  unsteady  voice.  I  do  not  hesitate  to  own  to 
genuine  grief  for  my  dear  old  nag,  but  oh,  when 
we  are  both  in  such  an  anxious,  uncertain  state  of 
mind  over  the  graver  question  of  our  separation, 
the  danger  of  the  campaign,  grief  over  the  horse 
is  secondary  ! 

"  General  Gibbs  finds  garrison  duty  so  dull  he 
would  far  rather  be  on  the  campaign,  but  he  -tries 
to  enliven  our  evenings.  He  and  the  Madame 
have  just  been  in,  and  he  made  me  laugh  in  spite 
of  the  wretched  uncertainty  I  am  in,  by  describ- 
ing you  as  so  enthusiastic  about  hunting  before  he 
left,  that  you  raced  out  of  your  tent  after  a  jack- 
rabbit  in  your  nightgown  ! 

"  I  am  very  unhappy  ;  I  cannot  help  it.  There 
are  some  people  here  who  talk  all  on  the  dark 
side  about  the  summer  campaign.  I  would  you 
were  in  the  humble  employment  of  Hutchins,  the 
pound-master  at  home,  and  I  the  happy  Mrs. 
Hutchins,  rather  than  living  in  this  inhuman,  un- 
natural, heart-rending  manner ! " 

"April  26,  1867. 

"  Since  I  received  your  letter  this  week,  saying 
you  would  set  out  after  the  Indians,  there  has  been 
nothing  but  misery;  and  a  perfect  whirlwind  of 
anxiety  possesses  me.  The  atmosphere  of  the 
post  is  gloomy  in  the  extreme.  All  sorts  of 
rumors  come  to  us.  Every  day  we  have  fresh  ac- 
counts of  troubles  that  have  actually  occurred 
with  the  Indians,  or  descriptions  of  those  that  are 
anticipated.  I  try  not  to  believe  them,  but  still  I 
have  no  peace  of  mind.  I  was  so  agitated  about 
ou,  that  even  the  excitement  of  the  earthquake 
eft  scarcely  any  effect  on  my  mind.  Our  separa- 


544 


TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 


tions  grow  more  hopeless  to  me.  Even  when  I 
was  in  Washington,  with  no  friends  about  me,  it 
was  not  so  hard  as  the  anxiety  now  is.  Colonel 
B—  -  has  arrived  from  Dodge,  and  gives  very  de- 
pressing accounts  of  the  Indians.  He  says  every 
one,  from  Dodge  here,  is  in  daily  terror  of  at- 
tack, and  one  of  the  stage-stations  is  already 
abandoned.  I  am  in  terror  to  think  you  are  to  go 
off  in  pursuit.  I  did  not  think  they  would  send 
lieutenant-colonels  on  scouts. 

"  Do  you  not  think  I  can  get  out  to  you  and  meet 
you  on  your  return  ?  You  know  how  I  thrive  in  a 
tent.  The  wind  is  frantic  to-day  ;  it  shrieks  and 
moans  about  the  house  in  the  most  desolate  man- 
ner. I  hate  wind  !  Now,  remember,  I  want  to  be 
sent  for  as  soon  as  possible.  There  seems  to  be 
not  even  the  faintest  prospect  of  going.  There 
isn't  an  ambulance  at  the  post,  but  nevertheless  I 
am  getting  my  gray  gown  ready  for  traveling. 
Can't  you  send  one  of  your  own  wagons  as  far  as 
the  termination  of  the  railroad  for  me,  and  I  can 
manage  the  rest  of  the  way  ?  The  troops  tempo- 
rarily here  were  brought  out  to  muster  this  morn- 
ing, and  we  had  a  little  of  the  pomp  and  circum- 
stance to  vary  the  day.  A  number  of  Indians — 
Kaws,  I  believe — came  to  witness  the  perform- 
ance, and  to  beg,  of  course.  I  could  scarcely 
contain  myself ;  I  wanted  to  fly  out  and  maul  and 
throttle  them.  I  know  it  must  distress  you  to 
have  a.frau  in  such  a  fury,  but  I  can't  help  it. 

"  I  know  you  are  wondering  why  this  letter  is 
cut  up  so.  Well,  I  began  to  try  and  cut  out  the 
tear-stains,  for  I  know  I  ought  not  to  send  such 
doleful  letters,  but  I  had  to  give  up  the  cutting  as 
a  bad  job,  for  I  would  soon  have  had  nothing  at 
all  to  give  the  messenger." 


A  LOST  OPPORTUNITY. 


545 


"May  i,  1867. 

"  Lieutenant  Cook  has  just  arrived,  and  brings 
messages  from  you,  and  he  is  anxious  to  take  me 
back  ;  but  until  I  hear  from  you  that  it  is  best,  I 
will  not  venture.  This  is  our  first  warm  day,  and 
the  soldiers  are  holy-stoning  our  porch,  while  Gen- 
eral Gibbs  is  staking  the  parade  into  walks,  and 
planting  grass-seed  again,  to  cover  up  the  destruc- 
tion the  darkies  made  of  the  sod." 

"  May  2. 

"Two  long  letters  have  come  from  you.  Oh, 
how  hard  it  is  to  know  that,  but  for  Diana,  I  could 
return  with  Lieutenant  Cook.  I  will  not  let  her 
know  it,  but  I  did  mention  that  you  hesitated 
about  letting  us  return  with  Lieutenant  Cook, 
because  of  the  risk  that  she  must  necessarily  run, 
and  that  her  parents  might  blame  you.  She  says 
she  is  not  in  the  least  afraid  ;  would  like  to  live  in 
a  tent ;  so  please  let  us  take  her  at  her  word. 
We  are  invited  to  stay  over  night  at  Harker  when 
we  go,  and  shall  not  mind  the  eighty  miles  to 
Hays,  if  once  we  get  the  transportation  from 
there.  When  I  think  that  the  snail-like  mail  takes 
six  days,  and  this  letter  must  be  so  long  going,  it 
exasperates  me.  A  messenger  left  hurriedly  to- 
day. General  Gibbs  had  no  opportunity  to  send 
me  word,  and  I  missed  my  chance  for  a  letter  to 
you.  The  courier  will  ride  night  and  day,  to  in- 
form General  Hancock  of  the  killing  of  six  men 
by  Indians  up  on  Republican  River." 

"  May  4. 

Generals  Sherman,  Hancock  and  Smith  meet 
here  in  conference  to-morrow,  and  I  hope  out  of  it 
will  come  some  favorable  results  for  us.  I  send 
you  your  supplies  and  the  box  of  cake  by  Lieuten- 


546  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

ant  C .     So  sorry  I  couldn't  get  your  barrel  of 

onions,  but  Junction  City  had  none.  Eliza's  darkey 
beaux  planted  us  a  little  garden,  and  I  let  them  do 
it  to  please  them,  feeling  sure  in  my  heart,  though, 
that  I  should  have  something  better  than  gardens, 
by  the  time  the  seed  came  up,  for  I  was  certain  I 
would  be  with  you.  But  the  seeds  are  coming  up. 
I  hate  them !" 

"  ON  THE  CARS-— en  route  TO  LEAVENWORTH. 

"May  7,  1867. 

"  I  hasten  to  write  a  few  words  to  send  back  by 
the  conductor,  who  will  mail  this  at  Saline,  the 
termination  of  the  railroad.  General  Hancock 
has  been  in  the  car  to  see  me.  He  is  in  Mr.  Shoe- 
maker's private  car.  I  told  him  I  was  going  to 
Leavenworth  for  supplies  for  our  new  post,  Gar- 
land. He  said  you  w^ere  cff  for  a  fifteen  days' 
scout,  but  on  your  return  you  would  come  to  Riley 
to  take  me  back  to  Hays.  I  did  not  ask  him,  much 
as  I  wanted  to  do  so,  but  when  he  said,  '  Are  you 
going  to  join  your  husband  soon  ? '  I  said  I  would 
be  glad  to  do  so,  if  he  had  no  objections.  He 
said,  '  None  whatever  !'  Just  think  of  that  !  He 
praised  you  mightily,  and  that  pleased  me,  as  you 
may  imagine.  He  spoke  in  praise  of  you  as  a 
husband,  and  commended  your  habits.  I  suppose 
he  thought  this  would  prepare  me,  and  sweeten  a 
bitter  pill,  for  he  continued,  '  Custer  will  have  to 
do  the  fighting  and  marching  and  scouting;'  and 
added,  '  I  do  not  know  what  we  would  do  with- 
out Custer  ;  he  is  our  reliance.'  He  spoke  splen- 
didly of  you.  He  said  that  as  they  marched 
back  from  Fort  Hays  to  Harker,  he  asked  what 
those  courier-stations  were  for,  and  General 
Smith  said,  'Why,  I  suppose  it's  *Custer  writing 
to  his  wife,'  and  so  on ;  and  as  he  was  talking  to 


EN  ROUTE  2O  CAMP.  547 

the  bishop  of  the  State,  and  everybody  in  the  car 
was  listening,  there  was  a  great  laugh.  He  says 
he  does  not  know  whether  an  Indian  war  will  take 
place  or  not.  If  it  does  not.  we  shall  go  to  Fort 
Garland  in  August.  If  there  is  war,  the  summer 
will  be  spent  in  roaming,  and  the  winter  at  Har- 
ker,  Hays  or  Riley.  I  will  try  not  to  worry  about 
your  scouting  trip,  but  shall  be  so  thankful  to  see 
you  again.  When  I  once  get  out  there,  I  will  try 
and  be  content  to  be  left  alone  in  your  absence. 
General  Hancock  has  treated  me  with  remarkable 
politeness.  I  begin  to  think  that  those  who  make 
efforts  to  be  with  their  wives  will  always  find 
officers  to  help  them." 

FORT  HARKER,  en  route  TO  FORT  HAYS. 
"  At  last  I  am  here,  safe  and  sound.  I  received 
your  letters  from  Hays,  telling  me  to  come  on  with 
General  Smith,  after  I  returned  from  Leavenworth 
Saturday  night ;  but  General  Sherman  asked  me, 
and  I  determined  to  take  the  first  chance,  as  you 
wrote  me  to.  So  here  I  am.  I  am  detained  here 
against  my  will.  I  cannot  induce  General  Gibbs 
to  let  me  set  out  for  Hays  to-night.  He  considers 
it  dangerous  ;  but  I  am  so  impatient,  so  disap- 
pointed, I  am  in  a* fume.  I  am  not  too  tired  to 
start  to-night,  and  oh,  I  can  hardly  wait.  I  have 
only  a  small  trunk  and  my  roll  of  bedding,  and 
can  go  in  light  marching  oraer." 

"  BACK  AT  FORT  RILEY  AGAIN, 

"June  27,  1867. 

"  I  have  never  been  in  a  more  uncertain  frame 
of  mind  about  you,  than  since  I  returned  here. 
First  I  hear  rumors  that  you  may  return  to  the 
Department,  and  yet,  when  I  left  Hays,  it  was  cer- 
tain that  you  would  remain  in  the  Platte  during 


548  TENTING  ON  'iHE  PLAINS. 

the  summer.  Oh,  how  exasperated  it  makes  me, 
especially  when  I  see  by  your  letter  that  you  al- 
most hope  to  meet  me  at  Fort  Wallace.  General 
Wright  asked  me  to  go  with  him,  and  if  there  had 
been  a  shadow  of  a  chance  of  my  seeing  you  when 
I  did  reach  Wallace,  or  any  way  by  which  I  could 
have  returned,  I  would  have  gone,  and  hardly 
given  the  Indians  a  thought. 

"  It  was  impossible  for  me  to  remain  at  Hays, 
You  know  you  told  me  to  remain,  even  if  I  moved 
off  from  the  Reservation.  But  the  post  is  removed 
sixteen  miles,  and  so  few  troops  are  left  there  that 
the  place  is  unsafe.  But  we  had  no  choice,  as  we 
were  sent  away.  At  dark,  a  week  ago  Sunday, 
we  were  told  to  be  ready  to  move  at  9  o'clock  that 
night.  We  started  at  12  p.  M.  Rumors  and  true 
reports  came  in  so  fast  to  General  Smith  that  he 
knew  hq  ought  to  be  at  Harker,  and  that  we 
women  ought  to  be  in  a  safe  place.  We  left  in 
an  amazing  hurry,  and  had  rather  a  trying  march. 
The  drunkenness  of  the  escort  kept  one  of  the 
officers  on  the  look-out  constantly.  Packing  our 
traps  so  hurriedly — for  all  our  baggage  came  after 
we  arrived — tired  me  out.  But  now  we  are  safely 
here  with  them,  I  am  ready  to  start  for  you  at  a 
moment's  notice,  with  little  or  no  baggage  this 
time. 

"  General  Sherman  sent  word  to  me  that  I  had 
best  remain  quietly  at  Riley,  as  my  husband  will 
be  on  the  march  all  summer.  Quietly  !  He  may 
talk  about  living  quietly,  but  I  cannot.  The 
road  between  Hays  and  Harker  grows  more  and 
more  unsafe,  and  the  officers  say  we  came  away 
just  in  time. 

"  After  the  freshets,  the  hot  sun  and  rain,  living 
under  wagon-covers,  in  tents,  the  house  seems 
very  comfortable,  but  our  things  are  dreadfully 


TERRORS  ARE  FORGOTTEN.  549 

broken  up,  as  I  have  had  them  packed  in  wagons 
three  times  in  the  past  three  weeks.  We  have 
had  some  things  stolen.  Everybody  has  been 
kind  to  us,  helping  us  move  and  pack.  I  try  not 
to  despair  about  getting  to  you  again.  I  am 
ready  to  set  out  for  Hays,  or  any  point  where  I 
can  see  you,  at  fifteen  minutes'  notice.  Remem- 
ber, I  am  not  afraid  of  Indians,  or  anything  else, 
if  you  are  at  the  end  of  the  trip. 

If  I  can  only  get  out  there  for  a  brief  visit,  I 
will  be  so  thankful ! 

"The  mail  no  longer  leaves,  and  it  seems  use- 
less to  write,  but  I  keep  watching  for  courier  or 
any  one  that  leaves  here  to  go  West,  trying  for 
every  chance  to  get  off  a  letter  to  you." 


CHAPTER   XVIII. 

GRATITUDE A  GREAT  SNOW-STORM THE  SIBLEY  TENT 

GENERAL     CUSTER      DEFINES     HIS     AMBITION 

THE    COOK    DEVISES    STRANGE    ADDITIONS    TO  THE 

BILL     OF     FARE GENERAL      HANCOCK     HOLDS     A 

COUNCIL    WITH    THE    CHIEFS   OF    THE    CHEYENNES 

THE    INDIAN    NOBILITY    REQUEST     THAT     THEIR 

SUPPER     BE      SERVED      BEFORE     THE     TALK THE 

PIPE  OF    PEACE — A  HINT    FOR  FURTHER  REFRESH- 

MENTS GENERAL    CUSTER    VISITS    THE    VILLAGES 

OF  SIOUX,  APACHES  AND  CHEYENNES A  DEPU- 
TATION OF  THREE  HUNDRED  WARRIORS  AND 
CHIEFS  IN  BATTLE  LINE THE  GENERAL'S  DE- 
SCRIPTION OF  THEM CIVILIZED  AND  BARBAROUS 

WARFARE     CONFRONTING     EACH     OTHER FLIGHT 

OF     THE     INDIANS GENERAL     CUSTER     AND     HIS 

REGIMENT     ARE      SENT      IN       PURSUIT EXTRACTS 

FROM       GENERAL      CUSTER's       LETTERS      WRITTEN 

% 

FROM    FORT    LARNED. 

"FoRT  LARNED,  April  9,  1867. 

4  T    AST  evening  I  finished  my  letter  to  you  of 

-L'  twenty-one  pages,  but  this  morning  I  find  my 

pen  again  in  my  hand,  to  convey  more  thoughts, 

wishes    and    impressions.      Oh,    how   often    the 

thought  passes  through  my  mind,  that  of  all  men 

I  have  cause  to  be  most  happy,  most  grateful  and 

550 


A  CONTENTED  HEART.  551 

most  contented — contented  because  I  am  happy 
— happy  because  I  have  my  highest  desires  grati- 
fied— and  grateful  for  these  blessings.  One  might 
inquire  upon  what  I  base  my  happiness.  True,  I 
have  neither  broad  acres  nor  untold  wealth  in 
store ;  but  these  of  themselves  would  not  satisfy 
me,  neither  would  their  loss,  if  I  possessed  them, 
dishearten  me.  My  happiness  is  based  upon  some- 
thing higher,  more  elevating,  more  ennobling, 
more  refining.  .  .  This  is  a  reality,  proven  and 
thoroughly  tested  after  an  extended  experience 
with  the  world.  I  may  be  enthusiastic  and  san- 
guine, but  my  enthusiasm  never  overshadows 
my  judgment. 

"  We  are  in  the  midst  of  a  most  terrible  snow 
and  hail  storm.  The  snow  has  fallen  several 
inches  deep  to-day,  mingled  with  hail,  and  is  now 
drifting.  I  do  not  think  we  had  any  severer 
weather  at  Riley  the  whole  winter  than  we  are 
now  experiencing.  It  is  terrible  upon  our  horses, 
after  they  have  been  in  comfortable  stables  all 
winter.  I  have  been  a  little  worried  about  my 
own  horses,  but  have  made  them  comparatively 
comfortable  for  the  night  (it  is  now  8  p.  M.).  I 
have  a  blanket  on  each,  then  on  top  of  that  is  a 
wagon-cover,  folded  so  as  to  cover  each  horse, 
from  his  ears  back.  Great  fears  are  entertained 
that  many  of  the  company  horses,  unprotected  by 
blankets,  will  be  frozen  in  the  morning.  If  Gen- 
eral Gibbs  were  not  sharing  my  tent,  I  would 
take  the  mare,  '  Fanchon '  in  with  me  to-night. 

"  You  need  not  be  anxious  regarding  my  com- 
fort. I  have  not  been  uncomfortable  a  moment, 
while  others  are  suffering.  I  rode  to  the  fort  to- 
day, on  duty,  through  the  thickest  of  the  storm, 
and  was  not  affected  by  it.  General  Gibbs  is 
temporarily  tenting  with  me,  on  account  of  his 


55  2  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

having  a  wall-tent.  Nearly  all  the  officers  have 
been  staying  with  me  to-day,  as  my  Sibley  is 
more  comfortable  than  their  wall-tents.  It's  a 
great  pity,  on  some  accounts,  that  the  Sibley  tent 
has  been  given  up  by  the  Government.  You  will 
be  glad  that  I  secured  this  old  one  for  the  march.* 
I  have  not  been  obliged  to  wear  my  overcoat, 
in  spite  of  the  cold.  I  have  worn  the  worsted 
cardigan  and  my  ever-present  dressing-gown,  in 

which  I  am  now  writing.     Captain has  been 

at  Fort  Garland,  and  is  very  anxious  to  go  there 
again,  and  hints  constantly  to  that  effect.  You 
know  how  he  objects  to  men  being  detailed  from 
his  company.  Well,  the  cook  for  our  mess  belongs 
to  his  company,  and  he  told  the  adjutant,  in  his 
droll  way,  when  the  dinner  was  being  praised, 
that  it  was  encouraging  for  his  company,  as  of 
course  we  would  not  want  to  part  with  the  cook 
and  separate  him  entirely  from  his  troop.  Of 
course  this  is  joking,  as  such  a  small  thing  as  de- 
tailing a  soldier  would  have  no  weight  in  the 
assigning  of  a  company." 

"  FORT  LARNED,  April  10,  1867. 
"  I  shall  have  another  chance  to  send  a  letter 
to-day,  as  the  stage  from  the  West  is  still  due, 
delayed  doubtless  by  the  storm.  In  the  mail  to- 
day I  had  three  letters  from  you.  No  newspapers 
came,  but  I  am  contented  with  what  the  day  has 
brought  me.  ...  I  have  so  much  to  be  thank- 
ful for  in  my  life,  God  grant  that  I  may  always 
prove  as  deserving  as  I  am  grateful  to  Him  for 
what  He  has  given  me.  In  years  long  numbered 
with  the  past,  when  I  was  merging  upon  man- 

*The  Sibley  tent  was  conical,  modeled  after  an  Indian  tepee, 
and  admitted  of  a  fire  on  the  ground  in  the  centre,  the  smoke  escap- 
ing from  an  aperture  at  the  top. 


AMBITION  DEFINED.  553 

hood,  my  every  thought  was  ambitious — not  to 
be  wealthy,  not  to  be  learned,  but  to  be  great.  I 
desired  to  link  my  name  with  acts  and  men,  and 
in  such  a  manner  as  to  be  a  mark  of  honor,  not 
only  to  the  present,  but  to  future  generations. 
My  connection  with  the  war  may  have  gained 
this  distinction  ;  but  my  course  during  the  last 
five  or  six  years  has  not  been  directed  by  ambi- 
tion so  much  as  by  patriotism,  and  I  now  find 
myself,  at  twenty-seven,  with  contentment  and 
happiness  bordering  my  path. 

"  My  ambition  has  been  turned  into  an  entirely 
new  channel.  Where  I  was  once  eager  to  acquire 
worldly  honors  and  distinctions,  I  am  now  con- 
tent to  try  and  modestly  wear  what  I  have,  and 
feel  grateful  for  them  when  they  come,  but  my 
desire  now  is  to  make  of  myself  a  man  worthy 
of  the  blessings  heaped  upon  me." 

"  FORT  LARNED,  April  10,  1867. 

"  The  weather,  which  was  so  severe  last  night, 
has  moderated,  and  is  now  quite  comfortable. 
Had  we  not  been  in  camp,  we  could  not  have 
escaped  without  loss  of  life,  I  fear.  The  ration  of 
oats  for  the  horses  was  doubled,  to  prevent  as 
much  as  possible  their  feeling  the  intensity  of 
the  weather  ;  but  even  then  the  guard  were  kept 
walking  along  the  picket-line  all  night,  whipping 
the  horses  to  keep  them  in  motion,  as  otherwise 
they  would  have  frozen. 

"  Tell  Eliza  I  discovered  a  new  dish  by  accident 
the  other  day,  but  she  need  not  try  it,  unless  she 
wants  to  throw  it  away  afterward.  I  told  the 
cook  I  wanted  him  to  cook  some  onions  and  pota- 
toes together,  meaning  that  I  wanted  him  to  fry 
them  for  breakfast.  But,  dinner  being  the  next 
meal,  and  the  soldier  prompt  to  obey  orders — even 


554  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

if  it  were  to  make  a  mince-pie  out  of  polecat  and 
corn  meal,  with  red  peppers  for  raisins — set  about 
preparing,  I  suppose  for  the  first  time,  a  dish  of 
onions  and  potatoes.  He  boiled  and  mashed  the 
potatoes,  then  sliced  his  onions,  and  mashed  pota- 
toes and  onions  together ;  and  of  all  the  odd-tast- 
ing dishes,  that  was  one  of  them.  We  could  not 
eat  it. 

"  As  Harrison's  intentions  were  good,  and  in 
consideration  of  his  youth  (?)  and  inexperience,  I 
said  nothing  about  it  to  him,  except  when  he 
asked  next  day  if  I  liked  his  onions  and  potatoes. 
I  said  yes,  but  did  not  want  any  just  then.  I  think 
he  comprehended  that  my  reply  was  a  jest.  If 
Eliza  had  prepared  such  a  dish,  I  would  have 
asked  her  to  go  hunt  a  whip  and  prepare  for  her 
reward.  But,  notwithstanding  the  mixture  of 
onions  and  potatoes,  the  man  does  very  well, 
much  better  than  I  expected,  and  I  know  of  no 
one  in  the  command  who  lives  as  well  as  we  do. 

"  I  suppose  that  you  and  Eliza  will  both  be  in- 
terested and  delighted  to  know  that  your  old 

friend,  J ,  whom  you  both  begged  out  of  the 

guard-house  and  had  placed  on  parole,  is  here  with 
his  company.  I  sent  for  him  to-day,  more  for 
your  sake  than  anything  else,  and  scarcely  knew 
him  as  he  entered  my  tent.  He  is  much  fleshier 
than  while  at  Riley,  and  in  his  nice  new,  neatly 
fitting  uniform,  with  new  boots  (tell  Eliza),  he 
looked  much  handsomer  than  when,  in  his  ragged 
clothes,  he  did  police  duty  with  the  prisoners  about 
the  post.  I  suppose  if  you  and  Eliza  were  here  I 

would  have  no  peace  until  J was  detailed  at 

headquarters.  If  detailing  him  for  headquarter 
duty  would  bring  you  both  here,  I  believe,  as  Tom 
says,  '  by  Jocks,  I'd  do  it.'  The  lieutenant  of  his 
company  says  he  gave  him  a  horse  and  two 


BUOYANT  ANTICIPA  TIONS.  555 

blankets  the  first  day  after  leaving  Riley,  and 
took  good  care  of  him  ;  he  wants  you  to  know,  as 
you  had  asked  him  to  remit  the  sentence  and  put 
him  on  parole.  He  also  says  that  he  is  one  of  the 
best  and  neatest  soldiers  he  ever  saw." 

"  CAMP  NEAR  FORT  LARNED, 
"April  12,  1867. 

"This  letter  I  am  sending  by  General  Gibbs 
will  be  comparatively  short,  as  it  is  now  after  10, 
and  reveille  sounds  at  5  to-morrow,  and  we  start 
on  our  march  for  Fort  Dodge,  fifty  miles  dis- 
tant. Nearly  all  the  officers  of  the  Seventh  were 
present  at  a  council  General  Hancock  held  with 
the  chiefs  of  the  Cheyennes,  who  came  into  camp 
this  evening.  The  address  to  them,  and  their 
reply,  were  repeated  to  each  side  by  an  interpreter. 
The  council  has  just  ended.  Harper  s  Weekly 
will  contain  illustrations  of  this  expedition,  as 
Theodore  Davis,  one  of  their  artists,  is  with  the 
expedition. 

"  I  hope  you  have  received  my  letters  descrip- 
tive of  Fort  Garland.  One  can  stand  in  the  door 
of  the  quarters  and  behold  the  mountain-tops  in 
the  distance,  covered  with  snow,  even  when  the 
sun  is  pouring  down  its  hot  rays  upon  the  post. 
The  quarters  are  '  adobe,'  nothing  more  or  less 
than  sun-dried  brick,  made  and  dried  after  the  ex- 
act method  followed  by  the  children  of  Israel, 
over  which  they  labored  and  of  which  they  after- 
ward complained.  We  shall  have  an  opportunity 
to  hear  Spanish  spoken  there,  and  I  intend  to  send 
for  my  grammar  and  dictionary,  and  we  can  both 
study  the  language. 

"  I  am  glad  you  found  a  horse-shoe.  They  are 
almost  invariably  harbingers  of  good  luck.  Did 
you  not  get  a  letter  or  two  with  considerable  sat- 


556  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

isfactory  intelligence,  soon  after  finding  your 
horse-shoe  ?  I  tied  mine  to  my  saddle,  and  carried 
it  till  one  of  my  men  made  use  of  it  in  camp." 

"  PAWNEE  FORK,  Kansas,  April  14,  1867. 
"  Three  miles  beyond  our  present  camp  there  is 
a  large  encampment  of  Sioux,  Apaches  and 
Cheyennes.  A  considerable  number  of  them  came 
into  our  camp  last  night,  several  of  the  principal 
chiefs  remaining  all  night,  occupying  a  tent  that 
General  Hancock  had  pitched  for  them.  I  should 
have  written  to  you  last  night,  but  no  messenger 
was  to  be  sent  back.  I  can  tell  you  there  is  a 
4  somebody '  who  swears  vengeance  upon  the 
mail-carriers  and  stage-routes,  if  each  mail  does 
not  contain  at  least  one  letter  from  you.  As  I 
could  not  write  to  you,  I  concluded  to  study  the 
Indian  character  a  little.  Accordingly,  in  my 
ever-present  morning-gown  and  broad  hat,  I 
walked  down  to  the  tent  of  the  chiefs.  A  senti- 
nel had  been  placed  near,  to  prevent  the  soldiers 
from  approaching  too  closely,  from  curiosity  or 
other  motives,  so  that  the  Indians  were  kept  quite 
secluded.  I  went  to  their  tent  soon  after  dark 
and  remained  until  after  10  o'clock.  No  other 
officers  or  soldiers  were  present.  A  guide  and 
interpreter  were  there  a  part  of  the  time  ;  also  Mr. 
Davis,  of  Harper  s  Weekly.  The  Indians  were 
preparing  their  supper  from  meat  and  hard-tack 
furnished  them  by  our  commissary.  Instead  of  a 
Sibley  stove,  they  merely  built  their  fire  in  the 
centre  of  the  tent  and  broiled  or  toasted  their 
meat.  Each  one  had  a  pointed  stick  about  eight- 
een inches  in  length.  Upon  this  they  place  their 
ration  of  meat  (two  or  three  pounds  each),  and 
thrust  the  other  end  of  the  stick  into  the  ground 
just  outside  the  fire,  but  inclined  in  such  a  man- 


557 


558  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

ner  that  the  meat  is  exposed  to  the  heat  of  the 
embers.  When  it  was  cooked,  they  of  course  ate 
in  quite  a  primitive  style — with  their  fingers — each 
gnawing  at  his  bone  as  voraciously  as  if  he  had 
not  tasted  food  for  three  days.  I  went  to  the 
tent,  opened  it  and  entered — unbidden,  of  course, 
as  not  one  of  them  could  speak  a  word  of  English, 
and  my  education  in  Sioux,  Cheyenne  or  Apache 
had  been  equally  neglected.  My  entrance  and 
presence  did  not  seem  to  disturb  their  stoicism 
or  equanimity  in  the  least.  All  were  seated  around 
the  circumference  of  the  tent  upon  buffalo  robes.  I 
made  my  way  through  the  smoke  to  a  vacant 
robe,  and  joined  the  circle,  but  did  not  'swing 
round'  it.  I  took  my  place  between  two  chiefs, 
one  of  whom  was  White  Horse,  a  head  chief  of 
the  Cheyennes  and  the  other  a  chief  of  the 
Apaches.  There  were  perhaps  a  dozen  chiefs  in 
the  tent,  and  several  Indians  of  a  lower  grade,  who 
seemed  to  act  as  strikers  for  the  rest,  attending  to 
the  cooking  of  the  meat,  and  so  on.  The  chiefs 
were  in  full-dress  costume,  with  all  the  Indian 
paraphernalia — paint,  ornaments,  etc.  Some  had 
earrings  as  large  as  ordinary  dog-collars,  with 
chains  and  shells  attached,  making  a  pendant 
reaching  to  their  waists.  On  their  breasts  were 
plates  of  silver,  generally  of  a  half-moon  shape 
and  as  large  in  diameter  as  a  wash-basin.  Their 
arms  and  fingers  were  also  profusely  ornamented 
with  shells  and  silver  bands.  Attached  to  the 
scalp-lock  would  be  a  string  of  ornaments,  so  long, 
in  some  instances,  that  the  end  would  almost 
touch  the  ground  when  the  wearer  was  seated  on 
his  pony.  This  ornament  consisted  of  a  succes- 
sion of  silver  plates,  forty  or  more,  the  one  on  top 
and  nearest  the  head  being  as  large  as  a  saucer, 
the  size  of  the  others  gradually  diminishing  to  the 


AN  INDIAN  TEPEE.  559 

last,  which  would  be  the  size  of  the  bottom  of  a 
cup.  While  sitting,  or,  rather,  lying,  on  the  buffalo 
robe,  surrounded  as  I  was  by  this  strange  and 
picturesque  looking  group,  I  could  not  but  wonder 
what  your  sensations  would  be,  if  you  could  peer 
through  the  smoke  of  the  Indian  fire  and  see  me, 
dressed  as  at  home,  surrounded  by  a  dozen  or 
more  of  these  dusky  and  certainly  savage-looking 
chiefs.  I  smiled  silently  as  I  thought  of  the  strange 
position  in  which  I  found  myself.  Neither  could 
I  help  a  shudder  running  through  me,  as  a  thought 
darted  into  my  mind, '  What  if  Libbie  should  ever 
fall  into  the  hands  of  such  savages  !' 

"  The  two  that  acted  as  strikers  for  the  rest 
could  not  be  said  to  be  in  full-dress  costume,  un- 
less you  would  term  it  low  neck  and  short  sleeves. 
True,  the  neck  might  be  regarded  very  low,  and 
the  sleeves  very  scant,  as  no  garment  of  any  de- 
scription was  worn  above  the  waist.  I  discovered 
advantages  for  this  costume,  particularly  for  cooks 
and  table-waiters  :  their  sleeves  never  get  into  the 
food  or  dishes.  Tell  Eliza  to  try  it,  as  it  is  also  a 
comfortable  dress  for  summer,  particularly  in  the 
shade.  I  am  going  to  send  her  a  pattern. 

"  An  order  has  just  come  to  strike  tents  and 
move  a  few  miles  nearer  the  Indian  encampment. 
I  will  finish  my  letter  there." 

"5  P.  M. 

"  '  Howdy: ' — We  are  located  within  a  short  dis- 
tance of  a  large  Indian  encampment.  A  deputa- 
tion of  three  hundred  warriors  and  chiefs  met  us 
this  morning  soon  after  we  left  camp.  I  wish  you 
could  have  seen  them  as  we  approached.  They 
were  formed  in  line,  with  intervals,  extending 
about  a  mile.  The  sun  was  shining  brightly,  and 
as  we  arrived  the  scene  was  the  most  picturesque 


TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

and  novel  I  ever  witnessed.  Many  officers  pro- 
nounced it  the  most  beautiful  sight  they  ever  saw  ; 
buttbeauty  is  an  improper  name  to  apply  to  it,  in 
my  mind.  What  rendered  the  scene  so  striking 
and  so  magnificent  were  the  gaudy  colors  of  the 
dress  and  trappings  of  the  chiefs  and  warriors. 
Added  to  this  was  a  profuse  intermingling  of  sil- 
ver ornaments.  The  whole  scene  reminded  me 
of  descriptions  I  have  read  of  Moorish  or  Oriental 
cavalcades." 

"  PAWNEE  FORK,  April  15,  1867. 
"  20  minutes  to  3  o'clock  A.  M. 
"Our  council    with   the   Indians  did  not  take 
place,  as  I  said  it  would  in  my  letter  of  to-day, 
for  the  reason  that  the  Indians  gave  us  the  slip 
immediately  after  dark  this  evening.     One  of  the 
guides,  a  half-breed,  reported  this  fact,  or,  rather, 
that  they  were  saddling  up  to  leave  about  sunset. 
General  Hancock  sent  for  me,  and  it  was  deter- 
mined that  I,  with  the  Seventh  Cavalry,  should 
surround  the  village  and  keep  the  Indians  from 
leaving.     I  advised  against  delay.     I  obeyed  my 
order,  and  completely  surrounded  the  Indian  en- 
campment about   12  o'clock  to-night.     The  village 
numbered  about  two   hundred  and  fifty  lodges, 
but  the  bird  had  flown,  leaving  his  lodges  behind, 
and  evidently  flying  in  great  haste.     They  feared 
us  ;  feared  another  massacre  like  Chivington's.    I 
am  to  pursue  them  at  daylight  with  the  Seventh, 
and  my  orders  are,  to  overtake  them  and  bring 
them  back  if  possible  and  hold  the  council.     If 
they  refuse  to  come,  and  are  disposed  to  fight,  I 
am  to  accommodate  them.     I   may  end  at  Forts 
Hays,  Wallace  or  Dodge,  most  probably  at  Hays, 
If  so,  this  will  be  more  in  our  favor   for  meeting 
each  other.     I  do  not  anticipate  war,  or  even  diffi- 


THE  INDIANS  ESCAPE.  5 6 1 

culty,  as  the  Indians  are  frightened  to  death,  and 
only  ran  away  from  fear.  If  I  can  overtake  them, 
which  I  believe  I  can,  their  horses  being  in  very 
poor  condition,  I  can  at  least  try  to  disabuse  their 
minds  of  an  idea  of  harm,  so  that  you  need  not 
fear  war.  I  am  strongly  for  peace.  Now  you 
need  not  worry  in  the  least  about  me  ;  I  do  not 
think  we  shall  have  war.  It  is  now  after  3  in  the 
morning,  and  the  breakfast  is  being  put  upon  the 
table,  so  I  must  say  good-night." 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

EXTRACTS    FROM    GENERAL    CUSTER's     LETTERS     FROM 

FORT  HAYS  AND  FORT  WALLACE AN  ACCOUNT  OF 

KILLING    HIS    FIRST    BUFFALO-CALF THE     DEATH 

OF  CUSTIS  LEE EXTRACT  FROM  A  LETTER  WRIT- 
TEN BY  GENERAL  HANCOCK  ON  THE  INDIAN  DEPRE- 
DATIONS  RIDING  TO  MEET  THE  MAIL THE  DOC- 
TOR EATS  INDIAN  SOUP  IN  THE  VILLAGE SOME 

ITEMS  REGARDING  A  MATCH  BUFFALO-HUNT. 


"FoRT  HAYS,  April  20,  1867. 
T  F  you  have  received  my  last  two  letters,  you 
-L  will  not  be  surprised  at  seeing  this  dated  at 
Fort  Hays.  I  reached  here  yesterday  afternoon. 
We  could  be  seen  from  the  fort  a  long  distance 
off,  and  were  supposed  to  be  Indians  advancing  in 
force  to  attack  the  post.  The  long  roll  was  beaten, 
every  man  sprang  to  his  arms,  the  cannon  were 
loaded,  and  our  coming  was  awaited  in  breathless 
anxiety.  No  doubt  a  second  edition  of  the  Phil 
Kearney  massacre  was  anticipated.  When  we  had 
approached  near  enough  for  them  to  see  our 
wagons  and  flags,  their  fears  and  doubts  were 
dispelled,  and  an  officer  of  the  garrison  came  rid- 
ing out  to  meet  us.  It  appears  that  the  first  alarm 
was  given  by  two  of  the  sutler's  clerks,  who  had 
been  out  about  five  miles  from  the  fort,  in  the 
direction  in  which  we  were,  buffalo-hunting.  They 
saw  us  several  miles  off  advancing  toward  the 

562 


TRAVELING  IN  A  CIRCLE.  563 

fort,  arid  at  once  surmised  that  we  were  an  over- 
whelming force  of  Indians  bent  upon  capturing 
the  fort.  They  at  once  scampered  for  the  post, 
some  five  miles  off,  as  fast  as  their  horses  could 
carry  them,  when  the  alarm  was  given  and  prep- 
aration made  for  a  desperate  resistance.  The 
scene  as  described  was  of  the  most  exciting  char- 
acter, and  now  furnishes  material  for  many  good 
jokes  and  hearty  laughs. 

"  I  marched  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  in  four 
days  and  a  half,  an  average  of  over  thirty-three 
miles  a  day.  One  night  we  were  marching  till 
daylight.  They  have  a  good  joke  on  Lieutenant 

H ,  who,  as  you  know,  having  been  over  the 

Smoky  Hill  stage-route,  professes  to  know  every 
inch  of  the  way,  as  well  as  to  have  much  Plains 
knowledge,  of  which  we,  having  never  crossed 
the  Plains,  are  supposed  to  be  ignorant.  As  I 
desired  to  send  an  officer  and  detail  of  men  to 
Downer's  Station,  ten  miles  distant,  I  assigned  the 

duty   to    Lieutenant    H ,  supposing,  from  his 

conversation,  that  he  would  be  perfectly  familiar 
with  the  route.  About  an  hour  after  he  set  out, 
an  officer  came  into  my  tent  and  said  he  believed 
Lieutenant  H—  -  was  returning,  as  he  saw  a  party 
of  men  a  few  miles  off  that  appeared  to  be  his. 
After  watching  them  some  time,  we  discovered 
that  they  were  moving  neither  toward  us  nor  in 
the  direction  of  Downer's  Station,  but  in  a  totally 
different  way.  We  could  only  explain  his  move- 
ments by  supposing  that  he  had  discovered  a 
party  of  Indians  and  was  going  to  them.  He  soon 
passed  out  of  sight,  and  we  saw  nothing  more  of 
him  until  his  return  several  hours  afterward.  It 
was  then  developed,  from  his  own  story,  that  he 
had  not  been  to  Downer's,  but,  after  leaving  our 
camp,  had  become  lost,  and  in  wandering  around* 


564  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

it  seems  in  circles  all  the  time,  trying  to  find  the 
Station,  had  again  come  in  sight  of  our  camp. 
Believing  us  to  be  Indians,  he  made  preparations  to 
creep  up  to  us,  to  reconnoitre  our  numbers.  This, 
too,  at  the  particular  time  when  other  officers  and 
I  were  in  front  of  my  tent,  trying  to  make  out  what 
his  strange  movements  could  mean.  All  such 
occurrences,  though  ever  so  trifling  in  themselves, 
serve  to  while  away  a  few  moments  of  the  march, 
and  furnish  subjects  for  conversation. 

"  We  have  seen  immense  quantities  of  game, 
consisting  of  buffalo,  antelope,  wolves,  elk,  geese 
ducks,  etc.  The  first  member  of  the  buffalo 
family  that  I  saw  was  a  calf  about  four  week  old. 
I  was  riding  alone  with  one  of  the  Delaware  Ind- 
ians we  employ  as  scouts,  and  had  the  dogs 
with  me.  The  calf  jumped  up  out  of  the  tall 
grass  and  started  to  run  off.  The  dogs  all  fol- 
lowed and  soon  overtook  it,  each  one  taking  hold, 
while  the  calf  set  up  a  terrible  bellowing  ;  and 
they  held  it  till  I  rode  up,  dismounted,  and  killed 
it.  I  took  off  one  quarter  with  my  hunting-knife, 
and  left  the  remainder  on  the  ground.  Just  then 
one  of  my  guides,  a  half-breed  Cheyenne,  came 
up,  and  before  the  blood  had  ceased  flowing, 
while  the  carcass  was  still  warm,  he  cut  out  the 
heart  and  kidneys  and  ate  them  at  once,  without 
any  preparation  or  dressing  whatever,  just  as  you 
would  eat  an  apple.  I  had  a  delightful  dish  of 
broiled  veal  for  dinner  that  day. 

"  And  now  I  am  called  upon  to  relate  a  most 
unfortunate  occurrence,  and  one,  too,  that  you  will 
deeply  regret.  That  noble  animal,  ever  faithful 
and  true  to  the  last  moment,  Custis  Lee,  is  no 
more.  I  killed  him  last  Tuesday  while  buffalo- 
hunting.  .  .  Soon  after  leaving  camp  in  the 
morning,  I  took  the  dogs,  and  with  Sergeant  King. 


FIRST  BUFFALO  CHASE.  565 

the  chief  bugler,  rode  in  advance  of  the  column, 
but  still  in  sight.  On  a  bluff  upon  our  left  flank 
I  saw  several  antelope  grazing.  Desiring  to  test 
the  speed  of  the  greyhounds,  Lu  and  Sharp,  I 
galloped  toward  them.  The  dogs  soon  saw  them, 
and  away  they  went.  Sharp  tired  down  after 
running  about  a  mile,  but  Lu,  much  to  my  sur- 
prise, outran  Sharp  and  continued  the  chase 
about  four  miles,  overhauling  the  antelope  but 
unable  to  detain  it  alone.  Rover  and  Ratler  took 
the  trail  of  one,  and  were  soon  beyond  my  sight 
and  hearing.  I  feared  to  trust  Ratler  on  the 
prairie,  as  I  knew  that  he  would  lose  himself  if 
once  out  of  sight.  The  result  .of  this  chase  was, 
that  I  called  Lu  and  Sharp  off  at  once  ;  old  Rover 
joined  me  several  miles  off,  three  hours  afterward. 
Ratler  never  joined  me,  and  never  will,  as  I  sup- 
pose some  wolf  has  killed  him  ere  this.  I  regret 
his  loss  extremely,  as  this  is  the  first  time  he  has 
ever  joined  in  the  chase  and  followed  the  trail 
himself,  and  he  did  very  well.  But  his  loss  was 
neither  the  last  nor  the  greatest  misfortune  to  be- 
fall me  that  day.  Sergeant  King  had  vainly  en- 
deavored to  keep  up  with  me,  and  had  fallen  so 
far  behind  as  to  be  lost  to  view.  I  saw  a  buffalo 
about  three-quarters  of  a  mile  in  front,  the  first 
large  one  I  had  seen  so  near,  so,  taking  Lu  and 
Sharp,  I  galloped  in  pursuit.  The  buffalo  soon 
saw  me,  and  started  at  full  speed  across  the 
country.  Sharp  overtook  him  and  succeeded  in 
delaying  him  somewhat,  so  that  after  a  run  of 
about  three  miles  I  was  within  pistol-shot  of  him. 
.  .  .  I  drew  one  of  my  revolvers  and  started 
full  tilt  for  the  buffalo,  intending  to  ride  alongside 
and  kill  him.  He  was  completely  blown,  his  tongue 
protruding,  and  evidently  unable  to  continue 
the  chase  at  the  same  gait  much  longer  ;  so  that 


566  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

when  he  saw  me  coming  toward  him  he  suddenly 
halted  and  turned  upon  me.  I  was  too  near  to 
stop  or  turn  short.  I  therefore  gave  Lee  the  spurs, 
and  passed  just  in  advance  of  the  buffalo.  The 
chase  was  then  resumed.  I,  being  on  the  right  of 
the  buffalo,  passed  over  to  the  left  and  was  soon 
near  him  again.  I  was  close  to  him,  had  my  pis- 
tol cocked  and  aimed  at  his  side,  and  was  about 
to  pull  the  trigger,  when  the  buffalo  again  turned 
on  me  and  so  suddenly  as  to  cause  Lee  to  veer  to 
the  left.  I  drew  up  my  pistol,  intending  to  use 
both  hands  in  controlling  the  horse,  when,  just  as 
my  hand  was  raised  to  the  reins,  my  finger  acci- 
dentally and  in  the  excitement  of  the  moment, 
pressed  the  trigger  and  discharged  the  weapon, 
the  ball  entering  Lee's  neck  near  the  top  of  his 
head  and  penetrating  his  brain.  Both  horse  and 
buffalo  had  been  at  full  speed.  The  shot  pro- 
duced instant  death  ;  not  even  a  struggle  ensued 
after  he  fell.  .  .  . 

"  You  can  imagine  what  the  effect  would  be 
upon  me,  the  horse  running  his  best,  to  fall  in  a 
single  leap.  I  was  thrown  heels  over  head,  clean 
over  Lee,  but,  strange  to  say,  I  received  not  a 
scratch  or  bruise.  This  is  the  second  dangerous 
fall  I  have  had  within  ten  days.  I  did  not  lose 
my  presence  of  mind  for  a  moment,  and,  expect- 
ing the  buffalo  to  charge  upon  me  at  once,  I  had 
retained  my  revolver  in  my  hand,  and  in  an  in- 
stant was  on  my  feet,  ready  for  a  fight  or  a  foot- 
race. Fortunately  the  buffalo,  whether  surprised 
at  the  sudden  turn  affairs  had  taken,  or  deeming 
my  position  bad  enough,  concluded  to  call  it  a 
drawn  battle,  and,  after  looking  me  in  the  eyes  a 
few  moments,  wrent  galloping  off  over  the  prairie, 
leaving  me  in  possession  of  the  battle-field,  which 
I  believe  always  belongs  to  the  victor.  But  now 


568  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

came  the  time  to  try  men's  soles.  I  can  recall  manyf 
many  much  more  agreeable  circumstances  in 
which  to  be  placed  than  those  surrounding  me  at 
that  time.  I  was  dismounted,  which  to  a  cavalry- 
man is  not  the  most  pleasant  thing  in  the 
world ;  I  was  alone,  and  several  miles  from 
anybody,  and  the  direction  in  which  I  was 
to  find  that  anybody  was  still  to  be  determined. 
I  will  confess  that  in  hours  past,  have  deeply 
enjoyed  the  solitude  of  my  own  thoughts, 
and  there  have  been  times  when  I  would 
gladly  have  torn  myself  from  some  crowded 
throng  in  order  to  be  left. alone  in  my  glory.  Un- 
fortunately for  me  at  this  time,  so  favorable  for 
seclusion  and  meditation,  I  was  somewhat  in  a 
social  mood,  and  would  have  greeted  almost  any 
man,  or  even  woman,  that  I  ever  knew,  not 

excepting  .*      There     was     no     time     for 

regrets,  no  time  to  cry  over  spilt  milk,  much  as  I 
felt  disposed  so  to  do,  and  no  time  either  for  Fox 
River.  If  I  did  think  of  it,  I  intended  to  ford  it, 
I  cast  but  a  single  look  at  poor  Lee,  and  that  look 
satisfied  me  that  he  was  dead.  A  moment's  re- 
flection convinced  me  that  I  must  abandon  saddle, 
bridle  and  overcoat,  and  alone  in  the  wide,  wide 
world,  which  never  looked  half  as  wide  before,  set 
out  on  my  'tramp,  tramp,  tramp'  toward  the 
'  boys,'  who,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  were  '  marching.' 

"  I  knew  I  was  a  good  woodsman,  quick  at  find- 
ing roads,  good  in  keeping  directions,  etc.;  but  all 
these  qualities  had  only  been  exercised  before 
within  the  limits  of  civilization.  Now  it  was  dif- 
ferent: not  a  tree  was  to  be  seen,  not  a  rock  nor  a 
bush  ;  not  a  single  living  thing  was  in  sight,  the 


*This  reference  was  to  an  enemy  of  his,  whom,  of  course,  I  bit- 
terly disliked,  but  to  whom  my  husband  never  referred. 


LOST  ON  THE  PLAINS.  569 

dogs  having  fallen  far  behind.  Yes,  there  was  a 
living  object  still  in  view,  and  that  was  my  friend 
the  buffalo.  After  placing  about  half  a  mile  be- 
tween himself  and  me,  he  stopped  and  took  time 
for  breathing.  Finding  himself  no  longer  pursued, 
he  coolly  stopped,  and  watched  my  proceedings 
with  the  greatest  interest,  apparently  saying  to 
himself,  '  Who  got  the  worst  of  that  ? ' 

"  I  now  tried  to  remember  something  of  my 
course  while  chasing  the  buffalo,  and  also  the  dis- 
tance I  had  passed  over,  and  concluded,  after  look- 
ing at  the  sun,  that  I  had  galloped  about  five  miles 
in  a  semicircle,  around  the  head  of  the  column.  \ 
had  set  out  on  the  left,  and  must  now  be  about 
two  miles  in  front,  and  to  the  right  the  same  dis- 
tance. Accordingly,  with  poor  Lee  as  a  starting- 
point,  and  also,  a  point  of  reference,  I  set  out  in 
the  supposed  direction,  frequently  looking  around 
to  see  where  the  horse  lay.  If  G.  P.  R.  James  had 
been  sufficiently  near,  he  might  have  described  a 
solitary  horseman  (on  foot,  unfortunately)  slowly 
proceeding  in  the  direction  of  he  was  not  positive 
where.  I  walked,  with  busy  thoughts,  you  may  be 
sure,  about  two  miles,  and  until  Lee  dwindled  to 
a  small  dark  spot  on  the  prairie.  Still  no  signs  of 
the  command  approaching.  A  slight  doubt  as  to 
the  correctness  of  my  course  began  to  arise,  when 
I  saw  the  tops  of  the  wagons  as  they  were  making 
their  way  up  a  small  ravine.  They  were  then 
some  two  miles  distant,  so  I  patiently  sat  down 
and  awaited  their  coming.  You  should  have  se.en 
the  surprise  of  the  officers  when  they  found  me 
entirely  alone  on  the  prairie,  without  a  horse  being 
in  sight.  An  explanation  followed,  an  officer  sent 
a  party  after  my  saddle,  bridle  and  coat,  and  a 
horse  was  loaned  me,  as  I  had  left  Phil  and  Fan- 
chon  with  General  Smith. 


5  70  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

"  So  endeth  the  first  lesson  in  buffalo-chasing. 
But  the  second  is  not  like  unto  it.  On  the  horse 
that  was  loaned  me  I  again  set  out,  this  time  nearer 
the  command.  I  soon  saw  a  couple  of  buffalo 
near  by,  and  gave  chase  ;  was  alongside  in  no  time, 
and  began  pouring  the  contents  of  a  revolver  into 
the  side  of  one  of  them.  My  second  shot  brought 
him  down,  but  he  was  on  his  feet  almost  immedi- 
ately and  going  off  at  a  good  rate.  Again  I  was 
alongside,  and  brought  him  to  bay  with  another 
shot,  killing  him  readily. 

"  You  have  doubtless  heard  of  the  massacre  of 
the  three  men  at  the  stage-station  (Lookout  Sta- 
tion) about  twenty  miles  from  this  post.  The 
station  and  hay-stables  were  burned,  and  the  men 
so  badly  burned  as  scarcely  to  be  recognizable. 
I  was  the  first  of  the  command  to  reach  them,  as 
I  was  looking  for  a  camp.  Some  men  had  been  up 
the  day  before  (the  i6th;  the  massacre  was  on  the 
1 5th)  and  partly  buried  the  corpses.  But  the 
wolves  had  been  there,  uncovered  the  bodies,  and 
eaten  the  flesh  from  the  legs.  The  hair  was  burned 
from  their  heads.  It  could  not  be  determined 
whether  they  had  been  burned  alive  or  after  being 
killed.  The  flesh  was  roasted  and  crisped  from 
their  faces  and  bodies,  and  altogether  it  was  one 
of  the  most  horrible  sights  imaginable." 

"  NEAR  FORT  HAYS,  April  22,  1867. 
"  The  inaction  to  which  I  am  subjected  now, 
in  our  present  halt,  is  almost  unendurable.  It  re- 
quires all  the  buoyancy  of  my  sanguine  disposition 
to  resist  being  extremely  homesick.  Hitherto  I 
have  been  comparatively  contented,  and  able  to 
divert  my  thoughts  from  home  to  incidents  and 
occurrences  of  the  march,  but  even  that  poor  pre- 
text is  denied  me  here.  You  little  imagine  how 


HOSTILITIES  PRODUCE  WAR.  571 

great  the  sacrifice  is  to  me.  .  .  .  Our  train 
from  Barker  will  probably  arrive  to-night,  and 
we  shall  leave,  soon  after  it  reaches  us,  for  Dodge. 
A  note  from  headquarters  last  night  said  General 
Hancock  was  moderating  in  his  desire  for  war. 
God  grant  it  may  be  true  !  .  .  .  I  can  hardly 
devote  the  proper  time  and  attention  to  my  daily 
duties.  ...  I  am  almost  determined  that, 
come  what  may,  you  must  and  shall  join  me 
wherever  I  am  this  summer. 

"  If  Indian  hostilities  should  be  the  result  of  this 
expedition,  and  I  am  sent  off  independently  dur- 
ing the  summer,  as  I  am  at  present,  I  believe  you 
can  go  with  me.  The  fatigues  of  the  march  will 
be  all  that  you  will  have  to  contend  against,  and 
these  will  not  be  greater  than  those  encountered 
in  going  through  Texas.  As  for  overtaking  the 
Indians,  it  is  almost  an  impossibility.  Our  horses 
cannot  endure  the  marching  that  their  ponies  can, 
fed  upon  nothing  but  prairie-grass." 

"FoRT  HAYS,  April  23,  1867. 

"  Yesterday  two  couriers  came  from  headquar- 
ters, bringing  with  them  an  order  assigning  me 
to  the  command  of  all  the  troops  and  posts  on  the 
Smoky  Hill  route.  My  command  extends  west  as 
far  as  Denver,  and  north  and  south  as  far  as  I  choose 
to  go.  I  can  now  have  you  with  me  very  soon. 

"  War  has  been  declared  against  the  Sioux  and 
Cheyennes  ;  but  you  need  not  let  this  fact  give 
you  any  unnecessary  trouble  or  anxiety,  as  I  be- 
lieve the  hostile  Indians  are  going  north,  beyond 
the  limits  of  this  Department.  The  present  state  of 
affairs  was  all  anticipated  when  I  sent  you  General 
Hancock's  letter ;  but,  with  the  hope  that  open 
hostilities  might  be  averted,  I  refrained  from  re- 
ferring to  that.  However,  the  Indians,  by  their 


572  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

late  cold-blooded  and  heartless  massacres,  have 
precipitated  a  war,  the  consequences  of  which 
must  rest  with  them.  Two  companies  of  the 
Seventh  had  a  fight  a  few  days  since,  near  Cim- 
maron  Crossing.  Six  Indians  were  killed.  We 
had  two  men  killed  and  an  infantry  officer 
wounded.  I  have  ordered  a  line  of  couriers  to 
be  established  between  here  and  Fort  Barker, 
consisting  of  six  non-commissioned  officers,  so 
that  we  can  have  a  mail  three  times  a  week,  and 
but  about  ten  hours  between  here  and  Harker. 
This  post  is  not  a  regular  mail-station,  and  some- 
times our  mail  is  carried  on  to  Denver  and  back. 
Our  couriers  will  obviate  this  difficulty." 

"  FORT  HAYS,  April  25,  1867. 

"  Oh,  I  was  so  tempted  and  provoked  to-day  ! 
The  Superintendent  of  the  Overland  Route  called 
upon  me,  on  his  way  from  Denver  to  Junction 
City.  He  and  the  Division  Superintendent  had  a 
car  to  themselves,  and  he  offered  me  a  seat  in  it. 
Only  think  ;  in  thirty  hours  I  would  have  been  at 
Riley  !  I  was  tempted  with  the  offer,  and  pro- 
voked at  my  inability  to  accept  it.  ...  The 
Superintendent  called  to  consult  with  me  regard- 
ing the  protection  of  the  Overland  Route.  I 
have  issued  orders  for  the  infantry  to  move  out 
to-morrow,  and  there  will  be  five  men  at  each 
mail-station,  while  in  addition  there  will  be  five 
road  employees,  all  well  armed.  If  you  were 
alone,  I  would  have  the  Superintendent  bring  you 
back  with  him.  Now,  are  you  sorry  you  did  not 
go  home  like  the  other  ladies,  to  spend  the  sum- 
mer ?  I  need  not  ask,  for  I  know  nothing  would 
induce  you  to  go  so  far  away  that  you  would  lose 
the  chance  of  coming  to  camp. 

"  I  have  not  been  a  hundred  yards  from  my 


574 


TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 


tent  since  we  reached  here,  not  even  to  the  post, 
half  a  mile  away.  I  was  lying  on  my  pallet  to-day, 
thinking  over  my  blessings,  and  I  could  not  help 
uttering  a  prayer  of  gratitude  to  God,  for  all  that 
he  has  bestowed  on  me,  and  asking  that  I  might 
be  made  worthy,  and  be  led  to  pursue  such  a  moral 
life  that  others  might  be  benefited  by  my  example. 
"  I  read  most  of  the  time,  and  through  the  Doc- 
tor I  have  enjoyed  some  interesting  books.  I  have 
been  absorbed  to-day  in  a  scientific  book  entitled 
'  Origin  of  the  Stars.'  In  reading  a  book  of  poems, 
I  came  across  the  following  lines,  which  so  nearly 
express  my  views,  and  also  what  I  endeavor  to 
make  my  rule  of  thought,  that  I  copy  them  for 
you : 

"  '  Blest,  indeed,  is  he  who  never  fell, 

But  blest  much  more,  who  from  the  verge  of  hell 
Climbs  up  to  Paradise;  for  sin  is  sweet, 
Strong  is  temptation,  willing  are  the  feet 
That  follow  pleasure;  manifold  her  snares, 
And  pitfalls  lurk  beneath  our  very  prayers. 
Yet  God,  the  clement,  the  compassionate, 
In  pity  of  our  weakness,  keeps  the  gate 
Of  pardon  open,  scorning  not  to  wait 
Till  the  last  moment  when  His  mercy  throws 
A  splendor  from  the  shade  of  Azrael's  wings. 

O  Man  !  be  charity  thy  aim, 

Praise  cannot  harm,  but  weigh  thy  words  of  blame, 
Distrust  the  virtue  that  itself  exalts, 
And  turn  to  that  which  doth  avow  its  faults. 
Pardon,  not  wrath,  is  God's  best  attribute.'  " 


"NEAR  FORT  HAYS,  April  30,  1867. 
"  Letters  from  you  have  not  reached  me  as  they 
should.  '  Something  wrong  seemed  a-brewing.'  In 
all  my  life  I  do  not  remember  anything  that  has  been 
so  unceasingly  on  my  mind;  but  to-day  Richard  was 
himself  again  :  I  received  your  letter  of  Tuesday. 


A  SPECK  ON  THE  HORIZON. 


575 


The  irregularity  of  the  mails  is  terribly  trying. 
After  your  letter  came,  I  felt  like  a  ride;  so,  order- 
ing my  horse,  slinging  my  field-glass  over  my 
shoulder,  and  strapping  my  revolver  about  my 
waist,  I  galloped  off  to  a  fine  knoll,  about  a  mile 
and  a  half  distant,  from  which,  I  rightly  conject- 
ured, an  extensive  view  of  the  surrounding  coun- 
try might  be  obtained.  Arriving  there,  I  dis- 
mounted, and  throwing  the  rein  over  my  arm, 
began  admiring  the  landscape.  I  looked  long  and 
with  increasing  interest  until,  far  toward  the  East, 
I  discovered  two  dark  specks  apparently  approach- 
ing. I  waited  long  enough  to  distinguish  that 
they  were  two  buggies — a  most  unusual  sight  in 
these  regions.  I  became  interested,  for  I  knew  it 
was  not  the  coach,  whose  arrival  was  expected. 
To  reach  the  road  and  intercept  them,  it  was 
necessary  to  traverse  about  two  miles  of  prairie. 
Who  knows,  I  said,  but  there  may  be  news  for 
me !  To  entertain  this  thought  was  to  act  upon 
it,  and  in  a  moment  I  was  in  the  saddle  and  head- 
ing for  the  road,  as  if  on  '  the  ride  for  life.'  Lu, 
Sharp  and  Rover  vainly  endeavored  to  keep  up 
with  me.  *  Arriving  at  the  road  just  in  time,  whom 
should  I  see  but  the  Division  Superintendent  and 
express  messenger!  Who  will  deny  that  'there  is  a 
destiny  that  shapes  our  ends  '?  After  handshaking, 
the  first  words  were  inquiries  of  Riley,  and  the  mes- 
senger answered,  '  I  have  letters  for  you.'  We  then 
rode  on  together  to  camp.  Although  glad  to  see 
them  I  could  hardly  wait  till  they  took  their  de- 
parture, so  eager  was  I  to  devour  my  letters.  .  . 
"  I  have  sent  for  Comstock,  the  scout,  to  join  me. 
He  is  delighted  at  the  idea,  and  has  an  A  tent 
directly  in  rear  of  mine.  Yesterday  several  of  the 
officers  were  out  buffalo-hunting,  and  one  of  them 
accidently  shot  his  horse,  and  also  a  large  buffalo- 


5  76  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

dog  belonging  to  Company  E,  which  at  the  time 
had  the  buffalo  by  the  nose.  The  dog  will  recover. 
Four  of  the  hunting-party  were  lost,  wandered 
about  all  night,  and  finally  arrived  at  a  station  ten 
miles  away.  I  am  still  confident  of  seeing  you  ; 
for  I  cannot  believe  that  affairs  will  assume  that 
shape  which  will  separate  us  this  summer. 

"Take  a  dark  view  of  it,  and  grant  that  we 
have  an  Indian  war :  we  must  have  a  base  of 
supplies,  to  which  we  shall  go  at  brief  intervals; 
and  at  such  a  place  you  could  be  safe,  All  will 
yet  be  well.  You  will  find  some  more  horse-shoes. 

"Tell  Eliza  I  am  on  the  search  for  an  Indian 
husband  for  her — one  that  won't  bother  her  much 
to  sew  buttons  on  his  shirts  or  trousers,  and  his 
washing  won't  be  heavy,  and  one  dish  will  satisfy 
him  for  one  meal,  provided  it  is  stewed  puppies. 

"I  have  the  funniest  pet  now.  It  is  a  young 
beaver.  He  is  quite  tame ;  runs  about  the  tent, 
follows  me,  and  when  I  lie  down  on  the  bed  to 
read,  he  cuddles  up  under  my  gown  or  on  my  arm 
and  goes  to  sleep.  He  cries  exactly  like  a  baby 
two  days  old.  A  person  outside  the  tent  would 
think  there  was  a  nursery  in  here,  if  he  could  hear 
it  about  2  o'clock  in  the  morning.  I  feed  it  from 
my  hand  at  the  table.  Its  tail  is  perfectly  flat.  I 
am  going  to  tell  Eliza  that  it  used  to  be  round, 
but  a  wagon  ran  over  it.  Its  hind  feet  are  webbed 
like  a  duck's ;  its  fore  feet  are  like  hands." 


"NEAR  FORT  HAYS,  May  2,  1867. 
"  It  never  rains  but  it  pours  :  I  have  had  nine 
letters  to-day.  Did  you  ever  read  of  a  man  at 
death's  door  being  restored  to  life,  of  a  drowning 
man  saved,  or  of  a  person  long  imprisoned  in  dark- 
ness given  back  to  light  and  liberty  ?  No  miser 


A  CANINE  STEW. 

with  his  gold  ever  gloated  over  his  possessions  as 
I  do  to-day.  You  cannot  imagine  or  realize  the 
state  I  have  been  in  for  the  last  ten  days.  As 
General  Gibbs  has  told  you  that  I  darn  the  holes 
in  my  socks  by  tying  knots,  I  shall  forward  charges 
of  slander  against  him.  Tell  him,  as  he  wants 
men  for  the  band,  as  soon  as  the  other  companies 
arrive,  I  will  send  him  every  man  that  ever  played 
on  any  instrument,  from  a  curry-comb  to  a  thresh- 
ing-machine, including ,  who  I  know  can  play 

on  an  instrument  called  poker,  that  is,  if  he  can 
find  the  music  for  this  instrument. 

"I  thought  of  Alfred  and  Blair  when  we  sur- 
rounded the  Indian  camp,'at  the  time  we  supposed 
the  village  occupied.  There  were  dogs  of  all  ages, 
sexes  and  sizes.  In  one  of  the  lodges  we  found 
young  puppies,  in  another  we  found  in  a  camp- 
kettle  a  mess  of  stewed  dogs.  The  Indians  ran 
off  so  hurridly  they  left  all  their  cooking-utensils 
and  meat,  some  of  which  was  being  prepared  for 

the  evening  meal.     Dr.  C was  the  victim  of  a 

good  joke.  He  is  of  an  inquiring  turn  of  mind, 
always  anxious  to  see  everything  and  judge  for 
himself,  and  he  was  about  the  first  to  discover  the 
camp-kettle  containing  the  dogs.  '  Fortunate  occur- 
ence,'  thought  the  Doctor  ;  '  here  is  an  opportunity 
seldom  found,  of  judging  of  the  Indian  mode  of 
preparing  buffalo-meat  to  be  eaten.  Happy 
thought !'  The  Doctor  fished  out  of  the  kettle  a 
large  piece  of  the  supposed  buffalo-meat,  and  with 
an  apparently  good  appetite  fell  to  and  ate  heartily. 
There  is  no  means  of  telling  how  long  his  enjoy- 
ment might  have  continued,  had  not  my  half- 
breed  guide  come  up  at  that  moment  and  exam- 
ined the  contents  of  the  kettle.  Taking  out  a 
portion,  he  exclaimed,  '  It  is  dog ! '  The  Doctor 
took  the  laugh  quite  coolly,  remarking,  '  I  don't 


578  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

care  ;  it's  good,  any  how.'  I  forgot,  also,  to  tell  you 
in  a  former  letter  about  the  only  occupant  of  the 
Indian  camp.  It  was  a  little  half-breed  girl.  We 
found  her  half  naked.  She  was  perhaps  eight  or 
nine  years  old.  It  is  all  true  that  you  have  heard 
about  the  Indians'  treatment  of  the  little  creature. 
I  had  the  Doctor  make  an  examination,  and  he 
found  she  was  in  a  horrible  condition.  She  was 
almost  insensible  when  we  discovered  her,  and 
after  recovering  sufficiently  to  talk  she  said  '  the 
Indian  men  did  her  bad.' 

"  Wo  be  unto  these  Indians,  if  ever  I  overtake 
them  !  The  chances  are,  however,  that  I  shall  not 
see  any  of  them,  it  being  next  to  impossible  to 
overtake  them  when  they  are  forewarned  and 
expecting  us,  as  they  now  are.  I  wrote  a  very 
strong  letter,  a  week  or  ten  days  ago,  against  an 
Indian  war,  picturing,  as  strongly  as  I  could,  the 
serious  results  that  must  follow,  in  the  way  of  put- 
ting a  stop  to  travel  on  the  overland  route,  and 
interfering  with  the  work  of  the  Pacific  Railroad, 
all  of  which  would  be  a  national  calamity.  I  re- 
garded the  outrages  that  have  been  committed 
lately  as  not  the  work  of  a  tribe,  but  of  small  and 
irresponsible  parties  of  young  men,  who  are  eager 
for  war.  The  stampede  of  the  Indians  from  the 
village,  I  attributed  entirely  to  fear.  I  closed  with 
the  hope  that  my  opinion  would  be  received  in 
the  light  intended,  and  that,  if  a  war  was  finally 
to  be  waged,  none  would  enter  it  more  determined 
or  earnest  than  I.  My  opinion  is,  that  we  are  not 
yet  justified  in  declaring  war. 

"  This  evening  I  notified  the  companies  that  on 
Saturday,  the  4th,  we  would  have  a  foot-race,  up- 
on the  following  conditions :  Distance,  three 
hundred  yards  ;  the  company  producing  the  win- 
ner to  be  excused  from  guard  and  fatigue  duty 


DIVERSIONS  FOR  IDLE  MEN. 


579 


one  week,  the  winner  to  be  excused  from  the  same 
duty  twenty  days.  I  had  orderly  call  sounded, 
and  the  sergeant-major  notified  the  eight  first- 
sergeants  of  the  race.  They  went  back  to  their 
companies,  and  the  excitement  began  when  they 
set  about  ascertaining  who  was  the  fastest  man 
in  each  company .  There  was  constant  cheering, 
clapping  of  hands,  and  laughing  until  dark.  All 
seemed  deeply  interested  in  the  event.  I  intro- 
duced it  to  give  the  men  exercise,  innocent  amuse- 
ment, and  something  to  do  to  keep  them  out  of 
mischief. 

"It  is  also  proposed  that  the  officers  of  the 
Seventh  and  those  of  the  post  united,  divide  into 
two  parties,  and  each  go  buffalo-hunting,  the 
party  that  kills  the  smallest  number  of  buffalo  to 

Cay  the  expenses  of  a  supper   for  the  entire  num- 
er.     So  you  see  we  are  endeavoring  to  pass  the 
time  as  pleasantly  as  possible. 

"  I  wish  you  were  here  to  go  buffalo-hunting. 
I  know  you  will  enjoy  it.  You  will  be  carried 
away  with  excitement.  Nothing  so  nearly  ap- 
proaches a  cavalry  charge  and  pursuit  as  a  buffalo- 
chase.  I  am  so  glad  that  you  have  been  so  pru- 
dent and  thoughtful  as  to  provide  a  sheet-iron 
stove.  It  will  be  invaluable  to  us.  There  are 
times  during  high  winds,  rains  or  storms,  when  it 
is  impossible  to  cook  by  an  out-door  fire.  Where 
did  you  learn  all  this  ?  If  I  had  not  known  you, 
I  would  imagine  that  you  had  crossed  the  Plains 
several  times.  Comstock  messes  with  me.  I  like 
to  have  him  with  me,  for  many  reasons.  He  is  a 
worthy  man,  and  I  am  constantly  obtaining  valu- 
able information  from  him  regarding  the  Indians, 
their  habits,  etc.  He  brought  a  large  dog  with 
him,  which  he  values  highly  and  calls  '  Cuss/  an 
abbreviation  of  Custer." 


580  TENTING  ON  7 'HE  PLAINS. 

"  HALF-PAST  i  IN  THE  MORNING, 
"  NEAR  FORT  HAYS,  May  4,  1867. 

"  I  have  this  minute  returned  from  General 
Hancock's  tent,  where  I  have  been  since  dark.  He 
leaves  for  Leaven  worth  in  the  morning,  General 
Smith  accompanying  him.  You  can  return  with 
the  latter.  He  is  delighted  with  the  idea  of  bring- 
ing you,  and  will  do  anything  in  his  power  to 
render  your  trip  comfortable.  We  have  a  beauti- 
ful camp,  and  you  will  be  delighted  with  the 
country.  Have  a  box  made  for  the  chickens,  to 
fasten  on  behind  the  wagons.  You  had  better 
have  Turk,  the  bull-dog,  and  the  setters  led 
through  the  town.  Bring  plenty  of  calico  dresses. 
I  hope  to  see  you  before  the  2oth  of  May.  Where 
is  Fox  River  now  ? 

"To  MRS.  GENERAL  CUSTER, 
"  Fox  RIVER  STATION." 

"NEAR  FORT  HAYS, 

"May  6,   1867. 

"  I  must  tell  you  about  the  foot-race.  After 
dinner  we  walked  up  on  the  hill  to  see  the  eight 
picked  men  test  their  speed.  It  was  quite  excit- 
ing. The  men  wore  only  their  shirts,  drawers, 
and  stockings.  The  race  was  won  by  an  A  Com- 
pany man.  An  E  Company  man  was  in  ad- 
vance, but  tripped,  and  fell  just  before  reaching 
the  goal.  Everybody  seemed  interested.  After 
that  came  a  horse-race,  one  quarter  of  a  mile, 
between  an  H  Company  horse  on  the  part  of  the 
cavalry,  and  an  infantry  horse  from  the  post. 
The  infantry  was  very  sanguine  of  success,  their 
horse  never  having  been  beaten ;  but,  as  fortune 
favors  the  brave,  the  cavalry  horse  won  hand- 
somely." 


AN  ORDER  FOR  "DOUBLE-QUICK."  581 

"9:30  P.  M.    NEAR  FORT  HAYS,  May  7,  1867. 

"  Will  you  be  contented  with  a  brief  letter,  as 
our  hunt  came  off  to-day,  and  I  have  ridden  fifty 
miles  ?  The  other  party  competing  goes  out  to- 
morrow. Our  party  of  seven  officers  killed 
twelve  buffalo.  One  of  the  officers  of  the  other 
party  has  been  here,  trying  to  find  out  how  many 
we  killed.  But  we  shall  hide  the  tongues,  which 
it  was  agreed  should  be  the  tally,  and  keep  our 
day's  work  a  secret  till  they  return. 

"  I  cannot  help  regretting  that  I  did  not  think 
of  what  you  suggested  in  time  ;  that  is,  that  I 
send  to  Saline  for  your  household  goods.  It 
would  expedite  your  coming.  Oh,  how  I  wish  we 
had  telegraphic  communication !  Send  letters 
by  the  stages  that  pass  you  on  your  march  here. 
Let  nothing  delay  you  a  single  day.  Leave  Gen- 
eral Smith,  if  he  is  delayed,  and  come  on  in 
advance,  if  you  have  an  opportunity.  Do  not  let 
the  grass  grow  under  your  feet." 

"FoRT  MCPHERSON,  June  17,   1867. 

"I  have  delayed  writing  to  you  until  I  could 
learn  from  General  Sherman  something  positive 
regarding  my  future  movements.  I  now  know. 
Be  brave !  '  It  is  always  darkest  just  before  day.' 
General  Sherman  says  I  may  not  return  to  the 
Smoky  Hill  route  until  nearly  winter,  but  he  says 
that  you  can  come  to  me  here,  and  wondered 
why  I  did  not  bring  you.  General  Sherman  says 
he  will  direct  the  quartermaster  at  Omaha  to 
arrange  for  passes  ;  but  do  not  for  the  world  let 
that  detain  you.  Money  is  no  consideration  ! 

"  I  am  fully  aware  of  the  great  undertaking  be- 
fore you.  Perhaps  you  had  better  await  a  des- 
patch from  me  at  Sedgwick  ;  but  if  either  Gen- 
eral Hancock  or  General  Smith  will  give  you  the 


582  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

assistance  you  need,  you  will  avoid  delay.  If 
General  Smith  should  send  a  company  on  a  scout 
to  Fort  McPherson,  you  could  come  with  them. 
If  you  can  get  a  chance  to  come  to  Wallace,  I 
will  send  a  squadron  there  to  meet  you.  I  like 
this  last  plan  best  of  all.  I  only  fear  you  may 
not  have  your  saddle  with  you.  I  trust  so,  as 
you  will  have  considerable  marching"  on  horse- 
back to  do.  The  ranchmen  along  the  Platte  are 
so  stampeded  that  General  Sherman  thinks  the 
Seventh  should  remain  here  until  all  difficulties  are 
settled,  and  this  may  not  be  until  winter  ;  but 
General  Sherman  says  that  General  Hancock 
may  make  a  fuss  about  taking  me  away  from 
him,  and  ask  to  have  me  back.  If  you  see  Gen- 
eral Hancock,  ask  him  to  make  a  fuss  at  once ; 
in  that  case,  you  would  await  me  on  the  Smoky 
Hill  route.  I  am  on  a  roving  commission,  going 
nowhere  in  particular,  but  where  I  please.  I  can- 
not advise  as  to  which  course  you  should  pursue. 
Your  judgment  will  meet  the  crisis.  Once  here, 
you  will  stay,  even  if  we  have  nothing  but  a 
shelter-tent.  Now  that  General  Sherman  says 
you  can  come,  do  not  let  General  Hancock  or 
General  Smith  have  any  peace  until  they  send  you 
to  Wallace." 

"  FORKS  OF  THE  REPUBLICAN  RIVER, 
"  TWENTY-FIVE  MILES  FROM  FORT  WALLACE, 

"June  22,  1867. 

"  You  cannot  imagine  my  anxiety  regarding 
your  whereabouts,  for  the  reason  that,  if  you  are 
now  at  Wallace,  you  can  join  me  in  about  six 
days,  and  we  can  be  together  all  summer.  I  wrote 
twice  from  McPherson,  telling  you  how  to  reach 
me  by  way  of  Wallace.  I  am  expected  to  keep 
the  Indians  quiet  on  the  Platte  route  to  Denver. 


THE  APPROACH  OF  A  REUNION.         583 

They  are  pretty  well  scared.  I  have  already 
made  peace  with  '  Pawnee  Killer '  and  his  band  of 
Sioux — the  same  that  owned  the  lodges  that  were 
destroyed.  It  was  intended  that  I  should  draw 
my  supplies  from  Fort  Sedgwick,  but  I  am  now 
equidistant  from  there  and  Wallace,  and  Corn- 
stock  reports  the  road  from  here  to  Sedgwick  al- 
most impassable  for  trains,  owing  to  the  scarcity 
of  water,  while  that  to  Wallace  is  good.  I  there- 
fore send  to  Wallace.  Mr.  Cook  will  set  out  this 
evening  at  sunset,  with  twelve  wagons  and  a  com- 
pany of  cavalry  as  escort,  a  second  company 
going  half-way  and  there  awaiting  his  return. 
Mr.  Cook  will  return  in  six  days,  so  you  see  what 
a  splendid  opportunity  this  is  to  join  me.  I  hear 
that  General  Hancock  is  at  Wallace.  If  so,  Gen- 
eral Smith  is  doubtless  with  him,  and  has  taken 
you  along.  I  never  was  so  anxious  in  my  life.  I 
will  remain  here  until  Mr.  Cook  returns  with  the 
rations — and  you,  I  hope.  Now,  to  prepare  for 
emergencies,  you  may  still  be  at  Hays.  I  hope 
not,  but,  thinking  you  might,  I  will  act  accord- 
ingly. I  want  Comstock  to  see  General  Smith, 
and  will  send  him  to  Hays.  If  you  are  still  there, 
Comstock  will  take  this  letter  to  you  and  bring 
your  reply. 

"  Tellme  when  you  can  be  at  Wallace,  and  I  will 
send  a  squadron  there  for  you.  Our  marching 
will  not  be  hard  for  you  ;  although  we  sometimes 
make  thirty-five  miles  a  day,  it  is  not  usual." 


CHAPTER  XX. 

SACRIFICES  AND  SELF-DENIAL  OF  PIONEER   DUTY POOR 

WATER  AND  ALKALINE  DUST VAGARIES  OF  WEST- 
ERN WATER-WAYS DIGGING  IN  SUNKEN  STREAM- 
BEDS  FOR  WATER RIVERS  UNFRINGED  BY  TREES 

OR     SHRUBS THE     ALLURING     MIRAGE A     SHORT 

TRIBUTE  TO  THE  WESTERN  PIONEERS THEIR  EN- 
DURANCE, PATIENCE  AND  COURAGE THE  GOV- 
ERNOR OF  A  WESTERN  TERRITORY  SHINES  AS  A 

COOK   AS  WELL   AS    A    STATESMAN THE    GENERAL 

WRITES  OF  HIS  FIRST  BUFFALO-HUNT AN  ACCI- 
DENTAL DISCHARGE  OF  HIS  PISTOL  KILLS  MY  HORSE, 
CUSTIS  LEE GENERAL  SHERMAN  AS  A  SPECIAL  PROV- 
IDENCE  THE  WESTERN  TOWN  ON  A  MOVE GOV- 
ERNMENT MAKES  NO  PROVISION  FOR  ARMY  WOMEN 

TO    SAY    THEIR    PRAYERS JOURNEY    TO  FORT  HAYS 

THE    MATCH    HUNT    OF   THE     REGIMENT SUPPER 

GIVEN  BY  THE  VANQUISHED  TO  THE  VICTORS RECEP- 
TION GIVEN  BY  THE  ELEMENTS  ON  OUR  ARRIVAL 

THE  TENT  GOES  DOWN A  SCOUT  TO  FORT    M*PHER- 

SON A  SENTINEL  FIRES  ON  HIS  FRIENDS  BY  MIS- 
TAKE  GENERAL  CUSTER  SENDS  ESCORT  TO  TAKE 

US  TO  HIS  CAMP CAPTAIN    ROBBINS    AND    COLONEL 

COOK  ATTACKED,  AND  FIGHT  FOR  THREE  HOURS. 

TT  is  a  source  of  regret,  as  these  pages  grow  daily 

under  my  hand,  that  I  have  not  the  power  to 

place  before  the  country  the  sacrifices  and  noble 

584 


THE  HE  A  TED  EARTH.  585 

courage  endured  by  the  officers  and  soldiers  of 
our  army  in  their  pioneer  work.  I,  can  only  por- 
tray, in  the  simplest  manner,  what  I  saw  them  en- 
dure unmurmuringly,  as  I  was  permitted  to  follow 
in  the  marches  and  campaigns  of  our  regiment.  I 
find  that  it  is  impossible  to  make  the  life  clear  to 
citizens,  even  when  they  ask  me  to  describe 
personally  something  of  frontier  days,  unless  they 
may  have  been  over  the  Plains  in  their  journeys 
to  and  from  the  Pacific  coast.  Even  then,  they 
look  from  the  windows  of  the  Pullman  car  on  to 
the  desert,  white  with  alkali,  over  which  the  heat 
rises  in  waves,  and  upon  earth  that  struggles  to  give 
even  life  to  the  hardy  cactus  or  sage-brush.  Then 
I  find  their  attention  is  called  to  our  army,  and  I 
sometimes  hear  a  sympathetic  tone  in  their  voices 
as  they  say,  "  Ah !  Mrs.  Custer,  when  I  rode  over 
that  God-forgotten  land,  I  began  to  see  what  none 
of  us  at  the  East  ever  realize — the  terrible  life  that 
our  army  leads  on  the  Plains."  And  only  lately, 
while  I  was  in  the  West,  a  citizen  described  to  me 
seeing  a  company  of  cavalry,  that  had  made  a  ter- 
rific march,  come  in  to  the  railroad  at  some  point 
in  Arizona.  He  told  me  of  their  blistered  faces, 
their  blood-shot,  inflamed  eyes — the  result  of  the 
constant  cloud  of  alkali  dust  through  which  they 
marched — the  exhaustion  in  every  limb,  so  notice- 
able in  men  of  splendid  vigor,  with  their  broad 


586  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

chests,  deep  throats,  and  muscular  build,  because 
it  told  what  a  fearful  strain  it  must  have  been 
to  have  reduced  such  stalwart  athletes  to  weak- 
ness. What  effect  it  would  have  to  introduce  a 
body  of  such  indomitable  men  in  the  midst  of  an 
Eastern  city,  tired,  travel-stained,  but  invincible ! 

After  all,  if  we  who  try  to  be  their  champions 
should  succeed  in  making  this  transfer  by  some 
act  of  necromancy,  the  men  would  be  silent  about 
their  sufferings.  Among  the  few  officers  who 
have  written  of  Plains  life,  there  is  scarcely  a 
mention  of  hardships  endured.  As  I  read  over 
my  husband's  magazine  articles  for  the  first  time 
in  many  years,  I  find  scarcely  a  reference  to  the 
scorching  sun,  the  stinging  cold,  the  bleak  winds. 
His  narrative  reads  like  the  story  of  men  who 
marched  always  in  sunshine,  coming  across  clear 
streams  of  running  water  and  shady  woods  in 
which  to  encamp.  I  have  been  there :  through 
and  through  the  breezy,  buoyant  tale  I  see  the 
background — a  treeless,  arid  plain,  brackish,  mud- 
dy water,  sandy,  sterile  soil.  The  faces  of  our 
gallant  men  come  up  to  me  in  retrospection,  blis- 
tered and  swollen,  the  eyes  streaming  with  moist- 
ure from  the  inflaming  dust,  the  parched  lips 
cracked  with  fever  of  unquenched  thirst,  the  hands 
even  puffed  and  fiery  with  the  sun-rays,  day 
after  day. 


A  PER  SIS  TENT  FOE.  587 

It  seems  heartless  to  smile  in  the  midst  of  this  vis- 
ion, recalled  to  me,  of  what  I  myself  have  seen,  but 
I  hear  some  civilian  say,  as  they  have  often  asked 
me  equally  inconsistent  questions,  "  Well,  why 
didn't  they  wear  gloves  ?"  Where  all  the  posses- 
sions of  a  man  are  carried  on  the  saddle,  and  the 
food  and  forage  on  pack-mules,  it  would  be  im- 
possible to  take  along  gloves  to  last  from  early 
spring  till  the  stinging  cold  of  late  autumn. 
Thirst  is  an  unconquerable  foe.  It  is  one  of  those 
enemies  that  may  be  vanquished  on  one  field  and 
come  up,  supported  by  legions  of  fresh  desires,  the 
very  next  day.  I  know  nothing  but  the  ever- 
present  selfishness  of  our  natures  that  requires 
such  persistent  fighting.  Just  fancy,  for  a  mo- 
ment, the  joy  of  reaching  a  river  or  a  stream  on 
the  Plains  !  How  easy  the  march  seemed  beside 
its  banks.  At  any  moment  one  could  descend, 
fill  the  canteen,  and  rejoin  the  column.  It  is  true  the 
quality  of  the  water  was  not  of  the  best,  but  there 
comes  a  time,  out  there,  when  quantity  triumphs. 
It  seems  so  good  to  have  enough  of  anything,  for 
the  stinted  supplies  of  all  sorts  make  life  seem 
always  meagre  in  a  country  with  no  natural  re- 
sources. But  woe  be  to  the  man  who  puts  his 
faith  in  a  Western  stream  !  They  used  to  take 
themselves  suddenly  out  of  sight,  down  some- 
where into  the  bowels  of  the  earth,  and  leave  the 


588  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

bed  dry  as  dust,  winding  its  tortuous  way  for 
miles,  aggravating  us  by  the  constant  reminder 
of  where  water  ought  to  be,  but  where  it  unfort- 
unately was  not.  This  sudden  disappearance  of 
water  is  supposed  to  be  due  to  the  depression  of 
the  rocky  beds  of  the  streams.  A  deep  sand  ab- 
sorbs the  moisture  from  the  surface,  and  sucks 
down  into  its  depths  all  the  stream.  When  the 
bed  again  rises  nearer  the  surface,  the  stream 
comes  to  sight  once  more.  Whoever,  after  the 
water  disappeared,  found  that  he  must  drink  or 
die,  was  obliged  to  stop  and  dig  away  at  the  dry 
bed  of  the  river  until  he  found  moisture.  It  was  a 
desperate  man  that  attempted  it;  one  whose  throat 
had  become  voiceless,  whose  mouth  and  lips 
ached  with  the  swelling  veins  of  over-heated 
blood  ;  for,  if  one  delayed  behind  the  column  for 
ever  so  short  a  time,  he  was  reminded  of  his  inse- 
curity by  a  flash  from  a  pile  of  stones  or  a  bunch 
of  sage-bush  on  the  summit  of  a  low  divide. 
The  wily  foe  that  lurks  in  the  rear  of  a  marching 
column  has  no  equal  in  vigilance. 

And  then,  what  a  generous  being  a  soldier  is ! 
How  often  I  have  seen  them  pass  the  precious 
nectar — it  seemed  so  then,  in  spite  of  its  being 
warm  and  alkaline  ;  and  I  speak  from  experience, 
for  they  have  given  me  a  chance  also — flavored 
with  poor  whisky  sometimes,  as  that  old  tin  re- 


A  TREELESS  LAND. 


589 


ceptacle  which  Government  furnishes  holds 
coffee,  whisky  or  water,  whichever  is  attainable. 
I  fear  that,  had  I  scratched  and  dug  slowly  into 
the  soil  with  the  point  of  a  sabre,  and  scooped 
up  a  minimum  of  water,  my  eye  on  the  bluff 
near,  watching  and  in  fear  of  an  Indian,  I  should 
have  slaked  my  own  thirst  and  let  the  whole 
American  army  go  dry.  But  I  am  thankful  to 
say  the  soldier  is  made  of  different  stuff.  It  is 
enough  to  weld  strongest  bonds  of  friendship, 
like  those  in  our  army,  when  it  is  share  and  share 
alike  ;  and  I  am  reminded  of  a  stanza  of  soldier 
poetry : 

"  There  are  bonds  of  all  sorts  in  this  world  of  ours, 

Fetters  of  friendship  and  ties  of  flowers, 
And  true-lover's  knots,  I  ween  : 

The  boy  and  the  girl  are  bound  by  a  kiss, 
But  there's  never  a  bond  of  old  friends  like  this — 

We  have  drunk  from  the  same  canteen." 

I  have,  among  our  Plains  photographs,  a  picture 
of  one  of  the  Western  rivers,  with  no  sort  of  tree 
or  green  thing  growing  on  its  banks.  It  is  the 
dreariest  picture  I  ever  saw,  and  as  it  appears 
among  the  old  photographs  of  merry  groups  taken 
in  camp  or  on  porches  covered  with  our  garrison 
family,  it  gives  me  a  shudder  even  now.  Among 
the  photographs  of  the  bright  side  of  our  life,  this 
is  the  skeleton  at  the  feast,  which  comes  up  so 
persistently. 


590  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

Since  all  rivers  and  streams  in  the  States  are 
fringed  with  trees,  it  is  difficult  to  describe  how 
strange  some  of  our  Western  water-ways  appeared 
without  so  much  as  a  border  of  shrubs  or  reeds. 
In  looking  over  the  country,  as  we  ascended  to  a 
divide  higher  than  the  rest,  the  stream  lay  before 
us,  winding  on  in  the  curving  lines  of  our  own 
Eastern  rivers,  but  for  miles  and  miles  not  a  ves- 
tige of  green  bordered  the  banks.  It  seemed  to 
me  for  all  the  world  like  an  eye  without  an  eye- 
lash. It  was  strange,  unnatural,  weird.  The 
white  alkali  was  the  only  border,  and  that  spread 
on  into  the  scorched  brown  grass,  too  short  to 
protect  the  traveler  from  the  glare  that  was 
heightened  by  the  sun  in  a  cloudless  sky.  A  tree 
was  often  a  landmark,  and  was  mentioned  on  the 
insufficient  maps  of  the  country,  such  as  "  Thou- 
sand-mile Tree,"  a  name  telling  its  own  story  ;  or 
"  Lone  Tree,"  known  as  the  only  one  within  eighty 
miles,  as  was  the  one  in  Dakota,  where  so  many 
Indians  buried  their  dead. 

What  made  those  thirsty  marches  a  thousand 
times  worse  was  the  alluring,  aggravating  mirage. 
This  constantly  deceived  even  old  campaigners, 
and  produced  the  most  harrowing  sort  of  illusions. 
Such  a  will-o'-the-wisp  too  !  for,  as  we  believed 
ourselves  approaching  the  blessed  water,  imagined 
the  air  was  fresher,  looked  eagerly  and  expect- 


THE  FRONTIERSMEN.  59! 

antly  for  the  brown,  shrivelled  grass  to  grow 
green,  off  floated  the  deluding  water  farther  and 
farther  away. 

As  I  try  to  write  something  of  the  sacrifices  of 
the  soldier,  who  will  not  speak  of  himself,  and  for 
whom  so  few  have  spoken,  there  comes  to  me  an- 
other class  of  heroes,  for  whom  my  husband  had 
such  genuine  admiration,  and  in  whose  behalf  he 
gave  up  his  life — our  Western  pioneer.  A  desper- 
ate sort  of  impatience  overcomes  me  when  I  real- 
ize how  incapable  I  am  of  paying  them  proper 
tribute.  And  yet  how  fast  they  are  passing  away, 
with  no  historians  !  and  hordes  of  settlers  are 
sweeping  into  the  western  States  and  Territories, 
quite  unmindful  of  the  soldiers  and  frontiersmen, 
who  fought,  step  by  step,  to  make  room  for  the 
coming  of  the  overcrowded  population  of  the  East. 
My  otherwise  charming  journeys  West  now  are 
sometimes  marred  by  the  desire  I  feel  for  calling 
the  attention  of  the  travelers,  who  are  borne  by 
steam  swiftly  over  the  Plains  to  the  places  where 
so  short  a  time  since  men  toilsomely  traveled  in 
pursuit  of  homes.  I  want  to  ask  those  who  journey 
for  pleasure  or  for  a  new  home,  if  they  realize 
what  men  those  were  who  took  their  lives  in  their 
hands  and  prepared  the  way.*  Their  privations 

*  My  father  went  to  Michigan  early  in  1800,  and  his  long  journey 
was  made  by  stage,  canal-boat  and  schooner.     He  was  not  only  a 


592  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

are  forgotten,  or  carelessly  ignored,  by  those  who 
now  go  in  and  possess  the  land.  The  graphic 
pens  of  Bret  Harte  and  others,  who  have  written 
of  the  frontier,  arrest  the  attention  of  the  Eastern 
man,  and  save  from  oblivion  some  of  the  noble 
characters  of  those  early  days.  Still,  these  poets 
naturally  seized  for  portraiture  the  picturesque, 
romantic  characters  who  were  miners  or  scouts — 
the  isolated  instances  of  desperate  men  who  had 
gone  West  from  love  of  adventure,  or  because  of 
some  tragic  history  in  the  States,  that  drove  them 
to  seek  forgetfulness  in  a  wild,  unfettered  exist- 
ence beyond  the  pale  of  civilization. 

Who  chronicles  the  patient,  plodding,  silent 
pioneer,  who,  having  been  crowded  out  of  his 
home  by  too  many  laborers  in  a  limited  field,  or, 
because  he  could  no  longer  wring  subsistence  from 
a  soil  too  long  tilled  by  sire  and  grandsire  ;  or 
possibly  a  returned  volunteer  from  our  war,  who, 
finding  all  places  he  once  filled  closed  up,  was 
compelled  to  take  the  grant  of  land  that  the  Gov- 
ernment gives  its  soldiers,  and  begin  life  all  over 


great  while  in  making  the  trip,  but  subject  to  privations,  illness 
and  fatigue,  even  when  using  the  only  means  of  travel  in  those 
early  days.  The  man  who  went  over  the  old  California  trail  fared 
far  worse.  His  life  was  in  peril  from  Indians  all  the  distance,  be- 
sides his  having  to  endure  innumerable  hardships.  Those  who 
pioneer  in  a  Pullman  car  little  know  what  the  unbeaten  track  held 
for  the  first  comers. 


A  SOLDIER'S  SYMPATHY. 


593 


again,  for  the  sake  of  wife  and  children  !  There  is 
little  in  these  lives  to  arrest  the  poetical  fancy  of 
those  writers  who  put  into  rhyme  (which  is  the 
most  lasting  of  all  history)  the  lives  otherwise  lost 
to  the  world. 

How  often  General  Custer  rode  up  to  these  weary, 
plodding  yeomen,  as  they  turned  aside  their  wagons 
to  allow  the  column  of  cavalry  to  pass  !  He  was 
interested  in  every  detail  of  their  lives,  admired 
their  indomitable  pluck,  and  helped  them,  if  he 
could,  in  their  difficult  journeys.  Sometimes, 
after  a  summer  of  hardships  and  every  sort  of  dis- 
couragement, we  met  the  same  people  returning 
East,  and  the  General  could  not  help  being 
amused  at  the  grim  kind  of  humor,  that  led  these 
men  to  write  the  history  of  their  season  in  one 
word  on  the  battered  cover  of  the  wagon — 
"  Busted." 

We  were  in  Kansas  during  all  the  grasshopper 
scourge,  when  our  Government  had  to  issue 
rations  to  the  starving  farmers  deprived  of  every 
source  of  sustenance.  What  a  marvel  that  men 
had  the  courage  to  hold  out  at  all,  in  those  exasper- 
ating times,  when  the  crops  were  no  sooner  up 
than  every  vestige  of  green  would  be  stripped 
from  the  fields  !  Then,  too,  the  struggle  for  water 
was  great.  The  artesian  wells  that  now  cover  the 
Western  States  were  too  expensive  to  undertake 


594  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

with  the  early  settlers.  The  windmills  that  now 
whirl  their  gay  wheels  at  every  zephyr  of  the 
Plains,  and  water  vast  numbers  of  cattle  on  the 
farms,  were  then  unthought  of.  ...  A  would-be- 
settler  in  Colorado,  in  those  times  of  deprivation 
and  struggle,  wrote  his  history  on  a  board  and  set  it 
up  on  the  trail,  as  a  warning  to  others  coming 
after  him  :  "  Toughed  it  out  here  two  years.  Re- 
sult :  Stock  on  hand,  five  towheads  and  seven 
yaller  dogs.  Two  hundred  and  fifty  feet  down  to 
water.  Fifty  miles  to  wood  and  grass.  Hell  all 
around.  God  bless  our  home." 

It  would  be  too  painful  to  attempt  to  enumerate 
the  ravages  made  by  the  Indians  on  the  pioneer; 
and  God  alone  knows  how  they  faced  life  at  all, 
working  their  claims  with  a  musket  beside  them 
in  the  field,  and  the  sickening  dread  of  returning 
to  a  desolated  cabin  ever  present  in  their  heavy 
hearts.  There  are  those  I  occasionally  meet,  who 
went  through  innumerable  hardships,  and  over- 
came almost  insurmountable  obstacles,  and  who 
attained  to  distinction  in  that  land  of  the 
setting  sun  ;  but  I  find  they  only  remember  the 
jovial  side  of  their  early  days.  Not  long  since  I 
had  the  privilege  of  talking  with  the  Governor  of 
one  of  our  Territories.  He  was  having  an  interview 
with  some  Mexican  Senators  by  means  of  an  in- 
terpreter, and  after  his  business  was  finished,  he 


MEETING  IMMIGRANTS.  595 

turned  to  our  party  to  talk  with  enthusiasm  of  his 
Territory.  No  youth  could  be  more  sanguine  than 
he  over  the  prospects,  the  climate,  the  natural  ad- 
vantages of  the  new  country  in  which  he  had  just 
cast  his  lines.  All  his  reminiscences  of  his  early 
days  in  other  Territories  were  most  interesting  to 
me.  General  Custer  was  such  an  enthusiast  over 
our  glorious  West,  that  I  early  learned  to  look  upon 
much  that  I  would  not  otherwise  have  regarded 
with  interest,  with  his  buoyant  feeling.  ...  I 
must  qualify  this  statement,  and  explain  that  I 
could  not  always  see  such  glowing  colors  as  did 
he,  while  we  suffered  from  climate,  and  were  sigh- 
ing for  such  blessings  as  trees  and  water ;  but  we 
were  both  heart  and  soul  with  every  immigrant  we 
came  across,  and  I  think  many  a  half-discouraged 
pioneer  went  on  his  way,  after  encountering  my 
husband  on  the  westward  trail,  a  braver  and  more 
hopeful  man. 

How  well  I  remember  the  long  wait  we  made 
on  one  of  the  staircases  of  the  Capitol  at  Wash- 
ington, above  which  hung  then  the  great  picture 
by  Leutze,  "Westward  the  Course  of  Empire 
Takes  its  Way."  We  little  thought  then,  hardly 
more  than  girl  and  boy  as  we  were,  that  our  lives 
would  drift  over  the  country  which  the  admirable 
picture  represents.  The  General  hung  round  it 
with  delight,  and  noted  many  points  that  he 


596  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

wanted  me  to  enjoy  with  him.  The  picture  made 
a  great  impression  on  us.  How  much  deeper 
the  impression,  though,  had  we  known  that  we 
were  to  live  out  the  very  scenes  depicted ! 

Coming  back  to  the  Governor  :  I  cannot  take 
time  to  write  his  well-told  story.  The  portion  of 
the  interesting  hour  that  made  the  greatest  im- 
pression on  me  was  his  saying  that  the  hap- 
piest days  of  his  life  were  those  when,  for  fifteen 
hundred  miles,  he  walked  beside  the  wagon  con- 
taining his  wife  and  babies,  and  drove  the  team  from 
their  old  home  in  Wisconsin  to  a  then  unsettled 
portion  of  Ohio.  The  honors  that  had  come  to 
him  as  senator,  governor,  statesman,  faded  beside 
the  joys  of  his  first  venture  from  home  into 
the  wilderness.  I  saw  him,  in  imagination,  as  I 
have  often  seen  the  pioneer,  looking  back  to  the 
opening  made  in  the  front  of  the  wagon  by  the 
drawing  over  of  the  canvas  cover  to  the  puckered 
circle,  in  which  were  framed  the  woman  and 
babies  for  whom  he  could  do  and  dare.  I  fall  to 
wondering  if  there  is  any  affection  like  that  which 
is  enhanced  or  born  of  these  sacrifices  in  each 
other's  behalf.  I  wonder  if  there  can  be  anything 
that  would  so  spur  a  man  to  do  heroic  deeds  as 
the  feeling  that  he  walked  in  front  of  three  de- 
pendent beings,  and  braved  Indians,  starvation, 
floods,  prairie-fire,  and  all  those  perils  that  beset  a 


REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  BORDER.  597 

Western  trail;  and  to  see  the  bright,  fond  eyes 
of  a  mother,  and  the  rosy  cheeks  of  the  little  ones, 
looking  uncomplainingly  out  upon  the  desert  before 
them — why,  what  could  nerve  a  man's  arm  like 
that  ?  Love  grows  with  every  sacrifice,  and  I 
believe  that  many  a  youthful  passion,  that  might 
have  become  colorless  with  time,  has  been  deep- 
ened into  lasting  affection  on  those  lonely  tramps 
over  the  prairies. 

It  has  also  been  my  good  fortune  lately  to  re- 
ca«ll  our  Western  life  with  an  ex-governor  of 
another  Territory,  a  friend  of  my  husband's  in 
those  Kansas  days.  What  can  I  say  in  admira- 
tion of  the  pluck  of  those  Western  men  ?  Even 
in  the  midst  of  his  luxuriant  New  York  life,  he 
loves  better  to  dwell  on  the  early  days  of  his 
checkered  career,  when  at  seven  years  of  age  he 
was  taken  by  his  parents  to  the  land  of  the  then 
great  unknown.  He  had  made  a  fortune  in  Cali- 
fornia, for  he  was  a  Forty-niner,  and  returned  East 
to  enjoy  it.  But  as  he  lost  his  all  soon  afterward, 
there  was  nothing  left  for  him  to  do  but  to  start 
out  again.  His  wife  could  have  remained  in  com- 
fort and  security  with  her  friends,  but  she  pre- 
ferred to  share  the  danger  and  discomforts  of  her 
husband's  life.  Their  first  trip  over  the  old  trail 
to  Denver  (our  stamping-ground  afterward)  was 
a  journey  from  Missouri,  the  outfitting  place  at 


598  TENTING  OK  THE  PLAINS. 

the  termination  of  the  last  railway  going  West, 
taking  sixty-four  days  to  accomplish.  The  wife, 
brave  as  she  was,  fell  ill,  and  lay  on  the  hard 
wagon-bed  the  whole  distance.  The  invincible 
father  took  entire  care  of  her  and  of  his  children, 
cooking  for  the  party  of  eleven  on  the  whole 
route,  and  did  guard  duty  a  portion  of  every 
night.  The  Indians  were  hovering  in  front  and 
in  rear.  Two  of  the  party  were  too  old  to  walk 
and  carry  a  musket,  so  that  on  the  five  men  de- 
volved the  guarding  of  their  little  train.  Nine 
times  afterward  he  and  his  wife  crossed  that  long 
stretch  of  country  before  the  railroad  was  com- 
pleted, always  in  peril,  and  never  knowing  from 
hour  to  hour  when  a  band  of  hostiles  would  sweep 
down  upon  them.  He  taught  his  children  the  use 
of  fire-arms  as  soon  as  they  were  large  enough  to 
hold  a  pistol.  His  daughter  learned,  as  well  as 
his  sons,  to  be  an  accurate  marksman,  and  shot 
from  the  pony's  back  when  he  scampered  at  full 
speed  over  the  prairies.  For  years  and  years,  all 
his  family  were  obliged  to  be  constantly  vigilant. 
They  lived  out  a  long  portion  of  their  lives  on  the 
alert  for  a  foe  that  they  knew  well  how  to  dread. 
But  the  humorous  comes  in,  even  in  the  midst 
of  such  tragic  days  !  How  I  enjoyed  and  appre- 
ciated the  feelings  of  the  Governor's  wife,  whom 
I  had  known  as  a  girl,  when  she  rebelled  at  his 


A  GASTRONOMIC  SUCCESS.  599 

exercising  his  heretofore  valuable  accomplishment 
as  cook,  after  he  became  Governor !  How  like  a 
woman,  and  how  dear  such  whimsicalities  are, 
sandwiched  in  among  the  many  admirable  quali- 
ties with  which  such  strong  characters  as  hers  are 
endowed  !  It  seems  that  on  some  journey  over 
the  Plains  they  entertained  a  party  of  guests  the 
entire  distance.  The  cook  was  a  failure,  and  as 
the  route  of  travel  out  there  is  not  lined  with 
intelligence-offices,  the  only  thing  left  to  do  for 
the  new-made  Governor,  rather  than  see  his  wife 
so  taxed,  was  to  doff  his  coat  and  recall  the  culi- 
nary gifts  acquired  in  pioneer  life.  The  madame 
thought  her  husband,  now  a  Governor,  might 
keep  in  secrecy  his  gifts  at  getting  up  a  dinner. 
But  he  persisted,  saying  that  it  was  still  a 
question  whether  he  would  make  a  good  Gov- 
ernor, and  as  he  was  pretty  certain  he  was  a 
good  cook,  he  thought  it  as  well  to  impress 
that  one  gift,  of  which  he  was  sure,  upon  his 
constituents. 

The  next  letter  from  the  expedition  brought  me 
such  good  news,  that  I  counted  all  the  frights  of  the 
past  few  weeks  as  nothing,  compared  with  the 
opportunity  that  being  in  Fort  Riley  gave  me  of 
joining  my  husband.  He  wrote  that  the  cavalry 
had  been  detached  from  the  main  body  of  the 
command,  and  ordered  to  scout  the  stage-route 


6oO  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

from  Fort  Hays  to  Fort  McPherson,  then  the 
most  infested  with  savages.  A  camp  was  to  be 
established  temporarily,  and  scouting  parties 
sent  out  from  Fort  Hays.  To  my  joy,  my  hus- 
band said  in  his  letter  that  I  might  embrace  any 
safe  opportunity  to  join  him  there.  General 
Sherman  proved  to  be  the  direct  answer  to  my 
prayers,  for  he  arrived  soon  after  I  had  begun  to 
look  confidently  for  a  chance  to  leave  for  Fort 
Hays. 

With  the  grave  question  of  the  summer  cam- 
paign in  his  mind,  it  probably  did  not  occur  to 
him  that  he  was  acting  as  the  envoy  extraordi- 
nary of  Divine  Providence  to  a  very  anxious,  lonely 
woman.  While  he  talked  with  me  occasionally 
of  the  country,  about  which  he  was  an  enthusiast 
— and,  oh,  how  his  predictions  of  its  prosperity 
have  come  true  already  ! — I  made  out  to  reply 
coherently,  but  I  kept  up  a  very  vehement,  enthu- 
siastic set  of  inner  thoughts  and  grateful  ejacula- 
tions, blessing  him  for  every  breath  he  drew, 
blessing  and  thanking  Providence  that  he  had 
given  the  commander  -  in  -  chief  of  our  forces  a 
heart  so  fresh  and  warm  he  could  feel  for  others, 
and  a  soul  so  loyal  and  affectionate  for  his  own  wife 
and  family  that  he  knew  what  it  was  to  endure 
suspense  and  separation.  He  had  with  him  some 
delightful  girls,  whom  we  enjoyed  very  much.  I 


A  SPECIAL  PROVIDENCE.  6oi 

cannot  remember  whether,  in  my  anxiety  to  go  to 
my  husband,  my  conversation  led  up  to  the  sub- 
ject—  doubtless  it  did,  for  I  was  then  at  that 
youthful  stage  of  existence  when  the  mouth 
speaketh  out  of  the  fullness  of  the  heart — but  I  do 
remember  that  the  heart  in  me  nearly  leaped  out 
of  my  body  when  he  invited  me  to  go  in  his  car 
to  Fort  Harker,  for  the  railroad  had  been  com- 
pleted to  that  next  post. 

Diana  crowded  what  of  her  apparel  she  could 
into  her  trunk,  and  I  had  a  valise,  but  the  largest 
part  of  our  luggage  was  a  roll  of  bedding,  which 
I  remember  blushing  over  as  it  was  handed  into 
the  special  coach,  for  there  was  no  baggage-car. 
It  looked  very  strange  to  see  such  an  ungainly 
bundle  as  part  of  the  belongings  of  two  young 
women,  and  though  I  was  perfectly  willing  to 
sleep  on  the  ground  in  camp,  as  I  had  done  in 
Virginia  and  Texas,  I  did  not  wish  to  court  hard- 
ships when  I  knew  a  way  to  avoid  them.  Though 
we  went  over  a  most  interesting  country,  Gen- 
eral Sherman  did  not  seem  to  care  much  for  the 
outside  world.  He  sat  in  the  midst  of  us,  and 
entered  into  all  our  fun  ;  told  stories  to  match  ours, 
joined  in  our  songs,  and  was  the  Grand  Mogul  of 
our  circle.  One  of  the  young  girls  was  so  capti- 
vating, even  in  her  disloyalty,  that  it  amused  us 
all  immensely.  When  we  sang  war-songs,  she 


6O2  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

looked  silently  out  of  the  window.  If  we  talked 
of  the  danger  we  might  encounter  with  Indians, 
General  Sherman  said,  slyly,  he  would  make  her 
departure  from  earth  as  easy  as  possible,  for  he 
would  honor  her  with  a  military  funeral.  She 
knew  that  she  must,  in  such  a  case,  be  wrapped 
in  the  Stars  and  Stripes,  and  he  did  not  neglect 
to  tell  her  that  honor  awaited  her  if  she  died, 
but  she  vehemently  refused  the  honor.  All 
this,  which  would  have  been  trying  from  a 
grown  person,  was  nothing  but  amusement 
to  us  from  a  chit  of  a  girl,  who  doubtless  took 
her  coloring,  as  the  chameleon-like  creatures  of 
that  age  do,  from  her  latest  Confederate  sweet- 
heart. 

In  retrospection,  I  like  to  think  of  the  tact  and 
tolerance  of  General  Sherman,  in  those  days  of 
furious  feeling  on  both  sides,  and  the  quiet  manner 
in  which  he  heard  the  Southern  people  decry 
the  Yankees.  He  knew  of  their  impoverished 
and  desolated  homes,  and  realized,  living  among 
them  as  he  did  in  St.  Louis,  what  sacrifices  they 
had  made  ;  more  than  all,  his  sympathetic  soul 
saw  into  the  darkened  lives  of  mothers,  wives  and 
sisters  who  had  given,  wifh  their  idea  of  pat- 
riotism, their  loved  ones  to  their  country.  The 
truth  is,  he  was  back  again  among  those  peo- 
ple of  whom  he  had  been  so  fond,  and  no 


GENERAL  SHERMANS  OUTLOOK.  603 

turbulent  expressions  of  hatred  and  revenge  could 
unsettle  the  underlying  affection.  Besides,  he  has 
always  been  a  far-seeing  man.  Who  keeps  in 
front  in  our  country's  progress  as  does  this  war 
hero  ?  Is  he  not  a  statesman  as  well  as  a  soldier  ? 
And  never  have  the  interests  of  our  land  been  nar- 
rowed down  to  any  prescribed  post  where  he  may 
have  been  stationed,  or  his  life  been  belittled  by 
any  temporary  isolation  or  division  from  the  rest 
of  mankind.  Every  public  scheme  for  our  advance- 
ment as  a  nation  meets  his  enthusiastic  welcome. 
This  spirit  enabled  him  to  see,  at  the  close  of 
the  war,  that,  after  the  violence  of  wrath  should 
have  subsided,  the  South  would  find  themselves 
more  prosperous,  and  capable,  in  the  new  order 
of  affairs,  of  immense  strides  in  progress  of  all 
kinds. 

I  remember  a  Southern  woman,  who  came  to 
stay  with  relatives  in  our  garrison,  telling  me  of 
her  first  encounter  with  General  Sherman  after 
the  war.  He  had  been  a  valued  friend  for  many 
years ;  but  it  was  too  much  when,  on  his  return 
to  St.  Louis,  he  came,  as  a  matter  of  course,  to 
see  his  old  friends.  Smarting  with  the  wrongs  of 
her  beloved  South,. she  would  not  even  send  a 
message  by  the  maid  ;  she  ran  to  the  head  of  the 
stairs,  and  in  an  excited  tone,  asked  if  he  for  one 
moment  expected  she  would  speak,  so  much  as 


604  TEN  f ING  ON  THE 

speak,  to  a  Yankee  ?  The  General  went  on  his 
peaceful  way,  as  unharmed  by  this  peppery  as- 
sault as  a  foe  who  is  out  of  reach  of  our  short- 
range  Government  carbines,  and  I  can  recall  with 
what  cordiality  she  came  to  greet  him  later  in  the 
year  or  two  that  followed.  No  one  could  main- 
tain wrath  long  against  such  imperturbable  good- 
nature as  General  Sherman  exhibited.  He  remem- 
bered a  maxim  that  we  all  are  apt  to  forget,  "  Put 
yourself  in  his  place." 

Along  the  line  of  the  railroad  were  the  deserted 
towns,  and  we  even  saw  a  whole  village  moying 
on  flat  cars.  The  portable  houses  of  one  story 
and  the  canvas  rolls  of  tents,  which  would  soon 
be  set  up  to  form  a  street  of  saloons,  were  piled  up 
as  high  as  was  safe,  and  made  the  strangest  sort 
of  freight  train.  The  spots  from  which  they  had 
been  removed  were  absolutely  the  dreariest  of 
sights.  A  few  poles,  broken  kegs,  short  chimneys 
made  in  rude  masonry  of  small  round  stones, 
heaps  of  tin  cans  everywhere,  broken  bottles 
strewing  the  ground,  while  great  square  holes 
yawned  empty  where,  a  short  time  before,  a  can- 
vas roof  covered  a  room  stored  with  clumsy 
shelves,  laden  with  liquor.  Here  and  there  a 
smoke-stained  barrel  protruded  from  the  ground. 
They  were  the  chimneys  of  some  former  dug-outs. 
I  cannot  describe  how  startled  I  was  when  I  first 


THE  HOMES  OF  OFFICERS  605 

came  near  one  of  these  improvised  chimneys,  and 
saw  smoke  pouring  out,  without  any  other  evi- 
dence that  I  was  walking  over  the  home  of  a 
frontier  citizen.  The  roof  of  a  flat  dug-out  is 
level  with  the  earth,  and  as  no  grass  consents  to 
grow  in  these  temporary  villages,  there  is  nothing 
to  distinguish  the  upturned  soil  that  has  been  used 
as  a  covering  for  the  beams  of  the  roof  of  a  dwell- 
ing from  any  of  the  rest  of  the  immediate 
vicinity.  A  portion  of  this  moving  village  had 
already  reached  the  end  in  the  railroad,  and 
named  itself  Ellsworth,  with  streets  called  by 
various  high-sounding  appellations,  but  marked 
only  by  stakes  in  the  ground. 

At  Fort  Harker  wre  found  a  forlorn  little  post — a 
few  log  houses  bare  of  every  comfort,  and  no  trees 
to  cast  a  shade  on  the  low  roofs.  The  best  of  the 
quarters,  belonging  to  the  bachelor  commanding 
officer,  were  offered  to  General  Sherman  and  his 
party.  We  five  women  had  one  of  the  only  two 
rooms.  It  seems  like  an  abuse  of  hospitality,  even 
after  all  these  years,  to  say  that  the  floor  of  un- 
even boards  was  almost  ready  for  agricultural 
purposes,  as  the  wind  had  sifted  the  prairie  sand 
in  between  the  roughly  laid  logs,  and  even  the 
most  careful  housewife  would  have  found  herself 
outwitted  if  she  had  tried  to  keep  a  tidy  floor.  I 
only  remember  it  because  I  was  so  amused  to  see 


606  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

the  dainty  women  stepping  around  the  little  space 
left  in  the  room  between  the  cots,  to  find  a  place 
to  kneel  and  say  their  prayers.  I  had  given  up, 
and  gone  to  bed,  as  often  before  I  had  been  com- 
pelled to  tell  my  thanks  to  the  Heavenly  Father 
on  my  pillow,  for  already  in  the  marches  I  had 
encountered  serious  obstacles  to  kneeling.  The 
perplexed  but  devout  women  finally  gave  up  at- 
tempting a  devotional  attitude,  turned  their  faces 
to  the  rough  wall,  and  held  their  rosaries  in  their 
fingers,  while  they  sent  up  orisons  for  protection 
and  guidance.  They  were  reverential  in  their 
petitions  ;  but  I  could  not  help  imagining  how 
strange  it  must  seem  to  these  luxuriously  raised 
girls,  to  find  themselves  in  a  country  where  not 
even  a  little  prayer  could  be  said  as  one  would 
wish.  It  must  have  been  for  exigencies  of  our 
life  that  Watts  wrote  the  comforting  definition 
that  "  Prayer  is  the  soul's  sincere  desire,"  "  The 
upward  lifting  of  an  eye,"  etc.,  and  so  set  the 
heart  at  rest  about  how  and  where  the  supplica- 
tion of  the  soul  could  be  offered. 

At  Fort  Harker  we  bade  good-by  to  our  de- 
lightful party,  the  frolic  and  light-heartedness 
departed,  and  the  serious  side  of  existence  ap- 
peared. I  had  but  little  realization  that  every 
foot  of  our  coming  march  of  eighty  miles  was 
dangerous.  We  had  an  ambulance  lent  us, 


608  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

and  accompanied  a  party  that  had  an  escort. 
There  were  stage-stations  every  ten  or  fifteen 
miles,  consisting  of  rude  log  or  stone  huts,  hud- 
dled together  for  safety  in  case  of  attack.  The 
stables  for  the  relays  of  horses  were  furnished  with 
strong  doors  of  rough-hewn  timber,  and  the  win- 
dows .closed  with  shutters  of  similar  pattern.  The 
stablemen  and  relays  of  drivers  lived  in  no  better 
quarters  than  the  horses.  They  were,  of  course, 
intrepid  men,  and  there  was  no  stint  in  arming 
them  with  good  rifles  and  abundance  of  ammu- 
nition. They  were  prepared  for  attack,  and  could 
have  defended  themselves  behind  the  strong 
doors — indeed,  sustained  a  siege,  for  the  supplies 
were  kept  inside  their  quarters — had  not  the 
Indians  used  prepared  arrows  that  could  be 
shot  into  the  hay,  and  thus  set  the  stables  on 
fire.  These  Plainsmen  all  had  "  dug-outs "  as 
places  of  retreat  in  case  of  fire.  They  were  very 
near  the  stables,  and  connected  by  an  under- 
ground passage.  They  were  about  four  feet  deep. 
The  roof  was  of  timbers  strong  enough  to  hold 
four  or  five  feet  of  earth,  and  in  these  retreats  a 
dozen  men  could  defend  themselves,  by  firing 
from  loop-holes  that  were  left  under  the  roof- 
beams.  Some  of  the  stage  stations  had  no  regu- 
lar buildings.  We  came  upon  them  without  being 
prepared  by  any  signs  of  human  life,  for  the  dug- 


A  "DUG-OUT."  609 

outs  were  excavated  from  the  sloping  banks  of 
the  creeks.  A  few  holes  in  the  side-hill,  as  openings 
for  man  and  beast,  some  short  chimneys  on  the 
level  ground,  were  all  the  evidence  of  the  dreary, 
Columbarium  homes.  Here  these  men  lived,  facing 
death  every  hour  rather  than  earn  a  living  in  the 
monotonous  pursuit  of  some  trade  or  common- 
place business  in  the  States.  And  at  that 'time 
there  were  always  desperadoes  who  would  pursue 
any  calling  that  kept  them  beyond  the  reach  of 
the  law. 

This  dreary  eighty  miles  over  a  monotonous 
country,  varied  only  by  the  undulations  that  rolled 
away  to  Big  Creek,  was  over  at  last,  and  Fort 
Hays  was  finally  visible — another  small  post  of 
log  huts,  like  Fort  Harker,  treeless  and  desolate, 
but  the  stream  beyond  was  lined  with  white  can- 
vas, which  meant  the  tents  of  the  Seventh 
Cavalry. 

Again  it  seemed  to  me  the  end  of  all  the 
troubles  that  would  ever  enter  into  my  life 
had  come,  when  I  was  lifted  out  of  the 
ambulance  into  my  husband's  tent.  What  a 
blessing  it  is  that  there  is  a  halcyon  time 
in  sanguine  youth,  when  each  difficulty  van- 
quished seems  absolutely  the  last  that  will  ever 
come,  and  when  one  trouble  ends,  the  stone  is 
rolled  against  its  sepulchre  with  the  conviction 


6lO  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

that  nothing  will  ever  open  wide  the  door  again. 
We  had  much  to  talk  about  in  camp.  The 
first  campaign  of  a  regiment  is  always  important 
to  them,  and  in  this  case,  also,  the  council,  the 
Indian  village,  and  its  final  destruction,  were  real- 
ly significant  events.  The  match  hunt  to  which 
the  General  refers  in  his  letters  was  still  a  subject 
of  interest,  and  each  side  took  one  ear  in  turn,  to 
explain  why  they  won,  or  the  reasons  they  lost. 
Mr.  Theodore  Davis,  the  artist  whom  the  Harpers 
sent  out  for  the  summer,  was  drawing  sketches  in 
our  tent,  while  we  advised  or  commented.  It 
seemed  well,  from  the  discussions  that  followed, 
that  rules  for  the  hunt  had  been  drawn  up  in  ad- 
vance. It  was  quite  a  ranking  affair,  when  two 
full  majors  conducted  the  sides.  As  only  one 
day  was  given  to  each  side,  the  one  remaining  in 
camp  watched  vigilantly  that  the  party  going  out 
held  to  the  rule,  and  refrained  from  starting  till 
sunrise,  while  the  same  jealous  eyes  noticed  that 
sunset  saw  all  of  them  in  camp  again.  One  of 
the  rules  was,  that  no  shots  should  be  counted 
that  were  fired  when  the  man  was  dismounted. 
This  alone  was  a  hard  task,  as  at  that  time  the 
splendid  racing  of  the  horse  at  breakneck  speed, 
with  his  bridle  free  on  his  neck,  and  both  hands 
busy  with  the  gun,  was  not  an  accomplished  feat. 
The  horses  were  all  novices  at  buffalo-hunting, 


KEEPING  TALLY. 


611 


.^NV  **%?*\vq 


c^*  ^jS&"*m&Bir^ 

T  ^^^^^^^     ^   *&*>?*«*• 


•'/{'••'•iii 
//f//$" 


GATHERING  AND  COUNTING  THE 
TONGUES. 


also,  and  the  game  was 
thin  at  that  season,  so 
thin  that  a  bison  got 
over  a  great  deal  of  ter- 
ritory in  a  short  time.  I 
remember  the  General's 
telling  me  what  an  art 
it  was,  even  after  the 
game  was  shot,  to  learn 
to  cut  out  the  tongue. 
It  was  wonderful  that 
there  was  such  success 
with  so  much  to'  en- 
counter. The  winning  party  kept  their  twelve 
tongues  very  securely  hidden  until  the  second  day, 


6 1  2  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

when  the  losers  produced  the  eleven  they  had 
supposed  would  not  be  outdone.  My  husband 
was  greatly  amused  at  one  of  our  officers,  who 
hovered  about  the  camp-fires  of  the  opposite  party 
and  craftily  put  questions  to  ascertain  what  was 
the  result  of  the  first  day. 

All  this  was  told  us  with  great  glee.  Diana's 
interests  were  centred  in  the  success  of  that  party 
with  whom  her  best  beloved,  for  the  time,  hunted. 
The  officers  regretted  our  absence  at  their  great 
"  feed,"  as  they  termed  it,  and  it  must  indeed  have 
been  a  treat  to  have  for  once,  in  that  starving 
summer,  something  palatable.  Two  wall-tents 
were  put  together  so  that  the  table,  made  of  rough 
boards,  stretching  through  both,  was  large  enough 
for  all.  Victors  and  vanquished  toasted  each 
other  in  champagne,  and  though  the  scene  was  the 
plainest  order  of  banquet,  lighted  by  tallow 
candles  set  in  rude  brackets  sawed  out  of  cracker- 
box  boards  and  fastened  to  the  tent-poles,  and  the 
only  draping  a  few  cavalry  guidons,  the  evening 
brightened  up  many  a  dreary  day  that  followed. 
Gallant  Captain  Louis  McLane  Hamilton,  who 
afterward  fell  in  the  battle  of  the  Washita,  was 
the  hero  of  the  hour,  and  bore  his  honors  with  his 
usual  modesty.  Four  out  of  twelve  buffaloes  was 
a  record  that  might  have  set  a  less  boastful  tongue 
wagging  over  the  confidences  of  the  evening  camp- 


CONVIVIAL  LIFE. 


fire.     I  do  not  think  he  would  have  permitted  Mr. 
Davis  to  put  his   picture  in  the   illustration  if  he 


SUPPER  GIVEN  BY  THE  VANQUTSHED 

TO  THE  VICTORS  OF  THE  MATCH 

BUFFALO   HUNT. 


jUjjfft  j£"  could  have  helped  it. 

He  was  gifted  with  his  pencil  also  ; 

he  drew  caricatures  admirably,  and 

after  a  harmless  laugh  had  gone  the 
rounds,  he  managed,  with  the  utmost  adroitness,  to 
get  possession  of  the  picture  and  destroy  it,  thus 


6 14  TENTING  ON  THE  PL  At  VS. 

taking  way  the  sting  of  ridicule,  which  constant 
sight  of  the  caricature  might  produce.  How  I  came 
into  possession  of  one  little  drawing,  is  still  a  mys- 
tery, but  it  is  very  clever.  Among  our  officers  was 
one  who  had  crossed  the  Plains  as  a  citizen  a  year 
or  two  previous,  and  his  habit  of  revealing  mines 
of  frontier  lore  obtained  on  this  one  trip  was  some- 
what tiresome  to  our  still  inexperienced  officers.  At 
last,  after  all  had  tried  chasing  antelope,  and  been 
more  and  more  impressed  in  their  failures  with  the 
fleetness  of  that  winged  animal,  Captain  Hamilton 
made  a  sketch  representing  the  boaster  as  shoot- 
ing antelope  with  the  shot-gun.  The  speck  on  the 
horizon  was  all  that  was  seen  of  the  game,  but  the 
booted  and  spurred  man  kneeling  on  the  prairie 
was  admirable.  It  silenced  one  of  the  stories, 
certainly,  and  we  often  wished  the  pencil  could 
protect  us  further  from  subsequent  statements 
airily  made  on  the  strength  of  the  one  stage- 
journey. 

I  had  arrived  in  the  rainy  season,  and  such  an 
emptying  of  the  heavens  was  a  further  develop- 
ment of  what  Kansas  could  do.  But  nothing 
damped  my  ardor  ;  no  amount  of  soakings  could 
make  me  think  that  camping-ground  was  not 
an  Elysian  field.  The  General  had  made  our 
tent  as  comfortable  as  possible  with  his  few  be- 
longings, and  the  officers  had  sent  in  to  him,  for 


WIND,  RAIN  AND  LIGHTNING.  6 1 5 

me,  any  comfort  that  they  might  have  chanced 
to  bring  along  on  the  march.  I  was,  it  seemed, 
to  be  especially  honored  with  a  display  of  what 
the  elements  could  do  at  night  when  it  was  too 
dark  to  grope  about  and  protect  our  tent.  The 
wind  blew  a  tornado,  and  the  flashes  of  lightning 
illumined  the  tent  and  revealed  the  pole  sway- 
ing ominously  back  and  forth.  A  fly  is  an  outer 
strip  of  canvas  which  is  stretched  over  the  tent  to 
prevent  the  rain  from  penetrating,  as  well  as  to 
protect  us  in  the  daytime  from  the  sun.  This 
flapped  and  rattled  and  swung  loose  at  one  end, 
beating  on  the  canvas  roof  like  a  trip-hammer,  for 
it  was  loaded  with  moisture;  and  the  wet  ropes 
attached  to  it,  and  used  to  guy  it  down,  were  now 
loose,  and  lashed  our  rag  house  in  an  angry,  vin- 
dictive manner.  My  husband,  accustomed  to  the 
pyrotechnic  display  of  the  elements,  slept  soundly 
through  the  early  part  of  the  storm.  But  light- 
ning "  murders  sleep  "  with  me,  and  consequently 
he  was  awakened  by  a  conjugal  joggle,  and  on  ask- 
ing, "  What  is  it  ?  "  was  informed,  "  It  lightens  !  " 
Often  as  this  statement  was  made  to  him  in  his 
sudden  awakenings,  I  do  not  remember  his  ever 
meeting  it  with  any  but  a  teasing,  laughing  reply, 
like  :  "  Ah  !  indeed  ;  I  am  pleased  to  be  informed 
of  so  important  a  fact.  This  news  is  quite  unex- 
pected," and  so  on,  or  "  When,  may  I  inquire,  did 


6l6  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

you  learn  this  ? "  On  this  occasion,  however, 
there  was  no  attempt  to  quiet  me  or  delay  pre- 
cautions. Feeling  sure  that  we  were  in  for  it  for 
the  night,  he  unfastened  the  straps  that  secured 
the  tent  in  front,  and  crept  out  to  hammer  down 
the  ten-pins  and  tether  the  ropes.  But  it  was  of 
no  earthly  use.  After  fruitless  efforts  of  his  own, 
he  called  the  guard  from  their  tents,  and  they  went 
energetically  to  work  with  the  light  of  our  lantern. 
Ropes  wrenched  themselves  away  from  the  tent- 
pins,  straps  broke,  whole  corners  of  the  tent  were 
torn  out,  even  while  the  men  were  hanging  with 
all  their  might  to  the  upright  poles  to  try  and 
keep  the  ridge-pole  steady,  and  clinging  to  the 
ropes  to  keep  them  from  loosening  entirely  and 
sailing  off  in  the  air  with  the  canvas. 

In  the  midst  of  this  fracas,  with  the  shouts  of 
the  soldiers  calling  to  one  another  in  the  inky 
darkness,  the  crash  of  thunder  and  the  howling 
or  the  tempest,  the  wife  of  a  brave  soldier  was 
hiding  her  head  under  the  blankets,  and  not  one 
sound  emerged  from  this  temporary  retreat.  The 
great  joy  of  getting  out  to  camp  at  last  was  too 
fresh  to  extract  one  word,  one  whimper,  of  fear 
from  under  the  bedding.  The  sunniest  day  at 
Fort  Riley  could  not  be  exchanged,  could  not 
even  be  mentioned  in  the  same  breath,  with  that 
tornado  of  wind  and  rain. 


MIDNIGHT  HOSPITALITY.  6 1  7 

The  stalwart  arms  of  the  soldiers  failed  at  last. 
Their  brawny  chests  were  of  no  more  use,  thrust 
against  the  tent-poles,  than  so  many  needles. 
Over  went  the  canvas  in  a  heap,  the  General  and 
his  men  hanging  on  to  the  ridge-pole  to  clear  it 
from  the  camp  bed  and  save  any  accident. 

The  voices  of  officers  in  an  adjoining  tent  called 
out  to  come  over  to  them.  One,  half  dressed, 
groped  his  way  to  us  and  said  there  was  yet  room 
for  more  in  his  place,  and,  besides,  he  had  a  floor. 
It  was  a  Sibley,  which,  having  no  corners  with 
which  those  Kansas  breezes  can  toy,  is  much 
more  secure.  I  was  rolled  in  the  blankets  and 
carried  through  the  blinding  rain  to  our  hospitable 
neighbors'.  The  end  of  a  tallow  dip  gave  me  a 
glimpse  only  of  many  silent  forms  rolled  in  blan- 
kets and  radiating  from  the  centre  like  the  spokes 
of  a  wagon  wheel.  The  officer  owning  this  tent 
had  taken  the  precaution,  while  at  Leaven  worth, 
to  have  a  floor  made  in  sections,  so  that  it  could 
be  easily  stowed  away  in  the  bottom  of  a  prairie- 
schooner  in  marching. 

My  husband  laid  me  down,  and  we  were  soon 
two  more  spokes  in  the  human  wheel,  and  asleep 
in  a  trice.  Next  morning  I  wakened  to  find  my- 
self alone,  with  a  tin  basin  of  water  and  a  towel 
for  my  toilet  beside  me.  My  husband  had  to 
dress  me  in  his  underclothing,  for  everything  I 


6l8  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

had  was  soaked.  My  shoes  were  hopeless,  so  I 
was  dropped  into  a  pair  of  cavalry  boots,  and  in 
this  unpicturesque  costume,  which  I  covered  as 
best  I  could  with  my  wet  dress,  I  was  carried 
through  the  mud  to  the  dining-tent,  and  enthron- 
ed, a  la  Turk,  on  a  board  which  the  cook  produced 
from  some  hiding-place,  where  he  had  kept  it  for 
kindlings.  There  were  not  a  few  repetitions  of 
this  stormy  reception  in  the  years  that  followed, 
for  Kansas  continued  its  weather  vagaries  with 
unceasing  persistency,  but  this,  being  my  first,  is 
as  fresh  in  my  mind  as  if  it  occurred  but  yes- 
terday. 

The  tent  might  go  down  nightly,  for  all  I  cared 
then.  Every  thought  of  separation  departed,  and 
I  gave  myself  up  to  the  happiest  hours,  clamping 
about  the  tent  in  those  old  troop  boots,  indifferent 
whether  my  shoes  ever  dried.  The  hours  flew  too 
fast,  though,  for  very  soon  preparations  began  for 
a  scout,  which  my  husband  was  to  command.  It 
took  a  great  deal  of  comforting  to  reconcile  me 
to  remaining  behind.  The  General,  as  usual,  had 
to  beg  me  to  remember  how  blessed  we  were  to 
have  been  permitted  to  rejoin  each  other  so  early 
in  the  summer.  He  told  me,  over  and  over  again, 
that  there  was  nothing,  he  felt,  that  I  would  not 
encounter  to  come  to  him,  and  that  if  he  was  de- 
tained, he  would  send  for  me.  Eliza  and  a  faith- 


WHEEDLING  WOMEN.  619 

ful  soldier  were  to  be  left  to  care  for  us.  The 
cavalry  departed,  and  again  the  days  lengthened 
out  longer  and  longer,  until  each  one  seemed  forty- 
eight  hours  from  sun  to  sun.  We  could  scarcely 
take  a  short  walk  in  safety.  The  Indians  were  all 
about  us,  and  daily  the  sentinels  were  driven  in, 
or  attempts  were  made  to  stampede  the  horses 
and  mules  grazing  about  the  post.  The  few  offi- 
cers remaining,  in  whose  care  we  were  placed, 
came  or  sent  every  day  to  our  tents,  which  were 
up  the  creek  a  short  distance,  to  inquire  what  they 
could  do  for  our  comfort.  Mrs.  Gibbs,  with  her 
boys,  had  joined  her  husband,  and  we  were  their 
neighbors. 

It  seemed,  sometimes,  as  if  we  must  get  outside 
of  our  prescribed  limits,  the  rolling  bluffs  beyond, 
tinged  with  green  and  beginning  to  have  prairie 
flowers,  looked  so  tempting.  One  evening  we 
beguiled  an  officer,  who  was  sitting  under  our 
tent  fly,  which  was  stretched  in  front  for  a  shade, 
to  take  us  for  a  little  walk.  Like  many  another 
man  in  the  temporary  possession  of  wheedling 
women,  he  went  with  us  a  little,  and  "just  a  little 
farther."  Diana  would  have  driven  all  thought  of 
everything  else  save  herself  out  of  the  gravest 
head.  At  last  our  escort  saw  the  dark  coming 
on  so  fast  he  insisted  upon  going  home,  and  we 
reluctantly  turned.  As  we  came  toward  the  post, 


620  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

the  shadows  were  deepening  in  the  twilight,  and 
the  figures  of  the  sentinels  were  not  visible.  A 
flash,  followed  by  a  sound  past  our  ears,  that  old 
campaigners  describe  as  never  to  be  forgotten 
when  first  heard,  was  the  warning  that  we  three 
were  taken  for  Indians  and  fired  upon  by  the 
sentinel.  Another  flash,  but  we  stood  rooted  to 
the  spot,  stunned  by  surprise.  The  whiz  and  zip 
of  the  bullet  seemed  to  be  only  a  few  inches -from 
my  ear.  Still  we  were  dazed,  and  had  not  the 
officer  gained  his  senses  our  fate  would  have  been 
then  and  there  decided.  The  recruit,  probably 
himself  terrified,  kept  on  sending  those  deadly 
little  missives,  with  the  terrible  sound  cutting  the 
air  around  us.  Our  escort  shouted,  but  it  was  too 
far  for  his  voice  to  carry.  Then  he  told  us  to  run 
for  our  lives  to  a  slight  depression  in  the  ground, 
and  throw  ourselves  on  our  faces.  I  was  coward 
enough  to  burrow  mine  in  the  prairie-grass,  and 
for  once  in  my  life  was  devoutly  grateful  for 
being  slender.  Still,  as  I  lay  there  quaking  with 
terror,  my  body  seemed  to  rise  above  the  earth  in 
such  a  monstrous  heap  that  the  dullest  marksman, 
if  he  tried,  might  easily  perforate  me  with  bullets. 
What  ages  it  seemed  while  we  waited  in  this  pros- 
trate position,  commanded  by  our  escort  not  to 
move !  The  rain  of  bullets  at  last  ceased,  and 
blessed  quiet  came,  but  not  peace  of  mind.  The 


"LYING  LOW."  621 

officer  told  us  he  would  creep  on  his  hands  and 
knees  through  the  hollow  portions  of  the  plain 
about  the  post,  approach  by  the  creek  side,  and 
inform  the  sentinels  along  the  line,  and  as  soon 
as  they  all  knew  who  we  were  he  would  return 
for  us.  With  smothered  voices  issuing  from  the 
grass  where  our  faces  were  still  crushed  as  low  as 
we  could  get  them,  we  implored  to  be  allowed  to 
creep  on  with  him.  We  prayed  him  not  to  leave 
ns  out  in  the  darkness  alone.  We  begged  him  to 
tell  us  how  he  could  ever  find  us  again,  if  once  he 
left  us  on  ground  that  had  no  distinctive  features 
by  which  he  could  trace  his  way  back.  But  he 
was  adamant,  we  must  remain  ;  and  the  ring  of 
authority  in  his  tone,  besides  the  culprit  feeling  we 
had  for  having  endangered  his  life,  kept  us  still 
at  last.  As  we  lay  there,  our  hearts'  thumping 
seemed  to  lift  us  up  in  air  and  imperil  anew  our 
wretched  existence.  The  pretty,  rounded  contour 
of  the  girl,  which  she  had  naturally  taken  such  de- 
light in,  was  now  a  source  of  agony  to  her,  and 
she  moaned  out,  "  Oh  !  how  high  I  seem  to  be 
above  you  !  Oh,  Libbie,  do  you  think  I  lie  as  flat 
to  the  ground  as  you  do  ?  "  and  so  on,  with  all  the 
foolish  talk  of  frightened  women. 

When  at  last  our  deliverance  came,  my  relief  at 
such  an  escape  was  almost  forgotten  in  the  morti- 
fication I  felt  at  having  made  so  much  trouble ; 


622  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

and  I  thought,  with  chagrin,  how  quickly  the  Gen- 
eral's gratitude  to  find  we  had  escaped  the  bullets 
would  be  followed  by  temporary  suspension  of 
faith  regarding  my  following  out  his  instructions 
not  to  run  risks  of  danger  and  wander  away  from 
the  post.  I  wrote  him  an  abject  account  of  our 
hazardous  performance.  I  renewed  every  prom- 
ise. I  asked  to  be  trusted  again,  and  from  that 
time  there  were  no  more  walks  outside  the  beat 
of  the  sentinel. 

An  intense  disappointment  awaited  me  at  this 
time,  and  took  away  the  one  hope  that  had  kept 
up  my  spirits.  I  was  watching,  from  day  to  day, 
an  opportunity  to  go  to  my  husband  at  Fort  Mc- 
Pherson,  for  he  had  said  I  could  come  if  any 
chance  offered.  I  was  so  lonely  and  anxious,  I 
would  gladly  have  gone  with  the  scout  who  took 
despatches  and  mail,  though  he  had  to  travel  at 
night  and  lie  in  the  ravines  all  day  to  elude  the 
sharp  eyes  of  the  Indians.  I  remember  watching 
Wild  Bill,  as  he  reported  at  the  commanding  offi- 
cer's tent  to  get  despatches  for  my  husband,  and 
wishing  with  all  my  heart  that  I  could  go  with 
him.  I  know  this  must  seem  strange  to  people 
in  the  States,  whose  ideas  of  scouts  are  made  up 
from  stories  of  shooting  affrays,  gambling,  lynch- 
ing and  outlawry.  I  should  have  felt  myself  safe 
to  go  any  distance  with  those  men  whom  my  hus- 


REVERENCE  OF  A  SO-CALLED  RUFFIAN.  623 

band  employed  as  bearers  of  despatches.  I  have 
never  known  women  treated  with  such  reverence 
as  those  whom  they  honored.  They  were  touched 
to  see  us  out  there,  for  they  measured  well  every 
danger  of  that  country;  and  the  class  that  followed 
the  moving  railroad  towns  were  their  only  idea  of 
women,  except  as  they  caught  glimpses  of  us  in 
camp  or  on  the  march.  In  those  border-towns,  as 
we  were  sometimes  compelled  to  walk  a  short  dis- 
tance from  the  depot  to  our  ambulance,  the  rough 
characters  in  whom  people  had  ceased  to  look  for 
good  were  transformed  in  their  very  attitude  as 
we  approached.  Of  course,  they  all  knew  and 
sincerely  admired  the  General,  and,  removing 
their  hats,  they  stepped  off  the  walk  and  cast  such 
looks  at  me  as  if  I  had  been  little  lower  than  the 
angels.  When  these  men  so  looked  at  me,  my 
husband  was  as  proud  as  if  a  President  had  mani- 
fested pleasure  at  sight  of  his  wife,  and  amused 
himself  immensely  because  I  said  to  him,  after 
we  were  well  by,  that  the  outlaws  had  seemed  to 
think  me  possessed  of  every  good  attribute,  while 
to  myself  my  faults  and  deficiencies  appeared  to 
rise  mountains  high.  I  felt  that  if  there  was  a 
Christian  grace  that  my  mother  had  not  striven  to 
implant  in  me,  I  would  cultivate  it  now,  and  try 
to  live  up  to  the  frontier  citizen's  impression  of  us 
as  women. 


624  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

I  think  the  General  would  have  put  me  in  the 
care  of  any  scout  that  served  him,  just  as  readily 
as  to  place  me  in  the  keeping  of  the  best  officer 
we  had.  There  was  not  a  trust  he  reposed  in 
them  that  they  did  not  fulfill.  Oh,  how  hard  it 
was  for  me  to  see  them  at  that  time,  when  start- 
ing with  despatches  to  my  husband,  swing  them- 
selves into  the  saddle  and  disappear  over  the 
divide  !  I  feel  certain,  with  such  an  end  in  view 
as  I  had,  and  with  the  good  health  that  the  tough- 
ening of  our  campaigns  had  given  me,  I  could 
have  ridden  all  night  and  slept  on  the  horse- 
blanket  in  the  ravines  daytimes,  for  a  great  dis- 
tance. Had  I  been  given  the  opportunity  to  join 
my  husband  by  putting  myself  in  their  charge, 
there  would  not  have  been  one  moment's  hesita- 
tion on  my  part.  I  knew  well  that  when  "  off 
duty  "  the  scout  is  often  in  affrays  where  lynching 
and  outlawry  are  every-day  events  of  the  Western 
towns  ;  but  that  had  no  effect  upon  these  men's 
sense  of  honor  when  an  officer  had  reposed  a  trust 
in  them.  Wild  Bill,  California  Joe,  Buffalo  Bill, 
Comstock,  Charlie  Reynolds,  and  a  group  of  in- 
trepid men  besides,  who  from  time  to  time  served 
under  my  husband,  would  have  defended  any  of 
us  women  put  in  their  charge  with  their  lives. 

I  remember  with  distinctness  what  genuine  ad- 
miration and  gratitude  filled  my  heart  as  these. 


A  TRIBUTE  TO  SCOUTS.  625 

intrepid  men  rode  up  to  my  husband's  tent  to 
receive  orders  and  despatches.  From  my  woman's 
standpoint,  it  required  far  more  and  a  vastly 
higher  order  of  courage  to  undertake  their  jour- 
neys than  to  charge  in  battle.  With  women, 
every  duty  or  task  seems  easier  when  shared  by 
others.  The  most  cowardly  of  us  might  be  so 
impressionable,  so  sympathetic,  in  a  great  cause 
that  we  saw  others  preparing  to  defend,  that  it 
would  become  our  own  ;  and  it  is  not  improbable 
that  enthusiasm  might  take  even  a  timid  woman 
into  battle,  excited  and  incited  by  the  daring  of 
others,  the  bray  of  drums,  the  clash  of  arms,  the 
call  of  the  trumpet.  But  I  doubt  if  there  are 
many  who  could  go  off  on  a  scout  of  hundreds  of 
miles,  and  face  death  alone.  It  still  seems  to  me 
supreme  courage.  Imagine,  then,  my  gratitude, 
my  genuine  admiration,  when  my  husband  sent 
scouts  with  letters  to  us,  and  we  saw  them  in  re- 
turning swing  lightly  into  the  saddle  and  gallop 
off,  apparently  unconcerned,  freighted  with  our 
messages  of  affection. 

Something  better  than  such  a  journey  awaited 
me,  it  seemed,  when  two  of  our  Seventh  Cavalry 
officers,  Captain  Samuel  Robbins  and  Colonel 
William  W.  Cook,  appeared  in  camp  at  the  head 
of  a  detachment  of  cavalry  and  a  small  train  of 
wagons  for  supplies.  The  General  had  told  them 


626  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

to  bring  me  back,  and  an  ambulance  was  with  the 
wagons,  in  which  I  was  to  ride.  It  did  not  take 
me  long  to  put  our  roll  of  bedding  and  my  valise 
in  order ;  and  to  say  anything  about  the  heart  in 
me  leaping  for  joy,  is  even  a  tame  expression  to 
describe  the  delight  that  ran  through  every  vein 
in  my  body.  To  ascend  such  heights  of  joy, 
means  a  corresponding  capability  of  descent  into 
a  region  of  suffering,  about  which  I  do  not,  even 
now,  like  to  think,  for  the  memory  of  my  disap- 
pointment has  not  departed  after  all  these  years. 
The  commanding  officer  of  the  department  was  at 
the  post  temporarily,  and  forbade  my  going. 
There  is  a  hateful  clause  in  the  Army  Regulations 
which  gives  him  control  of  all  camp-followers  as 
well  as  troops.  I  ran  the  whole  gamut  of  insub- 
ordination, mutiny  and  revolt,  as  I  threw  myself 
alone  on  the  little  camp-bed  of  our  tent.  This 
stormy,  rebellious  season,  fought  out  by  myself, 
ended,  of  course,  as  everything  must  that  gives 
itself  into  military  jurisdiction,  as  I  was  left  be- 
hind in  spite  of  myself  ;  but  I  might  have  been 
enlisted  as  a  soldier  for  five  years,  and  not  have 
been  more  helpless.  I  put  my  fingers  into  my 
ears,  not  to  hear  the  call  "  Boots  and  Saddles  !  " 
as  the  troops  mounted  and  rode  away.  I  only 
felt  one  relief ;  the  officers  would  tell  the  General 
that  nothing  but  the  all-powerful  command  for- 


A  BITTER  DISAPPOINTMENT.  627 

bidding  them  to  take  me  had  prevented  my  doing 
what  he  knew  I  would  do  if  it  was  in  my  power. 
I  had  time  also  to  use  my  husband  as  a  safety- 
valve,  and  pour  out  my  vials  of  wrath  against  the 
officer  detaining  me,  in  a  long  letter  filling  pages 
with  regret  that  I  was  prevented  going  to  him. 

The  Indians  were  then  at  their  worst.  They 
roamed  up  and  down  the  route  of  travel,  burning 
the  stations,  running  off  stock,  and  attacking  the 
stages.  General  Hancock  had  given  up  all  ag- 
gressive measures.  The  plan  was,  to  defend  the 
route  taken  for  supplies,  and  protect  the  stage 
company's  property  so  far  as  possible.  The  rail- 
road building  was  almost  entirely  abandoned.  As 
our  officers  and  their  detachment  were  for  a  time 
allowed  to  proceed  quietly  on  their  march  to  Mc- 
Pherson,  they  rather  flattered  themselves  they 
would  see  nothing  of  the  enemy.  Still,  every  eye 
watched  the  long  ravines  that  intersect  the  Plains 
and  form  such  fastnesses  for  the  wily  foe.  There 
is  so  little  to  prepare  you  for  these  cuts  in  the 
smooth  surface  of  the  plain,  that  an  unguarded 
traveler  comes  almost  upon  a  deep  fissure  in  the 
earth,  before  dreaming  that  the  lay  of  the  land 
was  not  all  the  seeming  level  that  stretches  on  to 
sunset.  These  ravines  have  small  clumps  of 
sturdy  trees,  kept  alive  in  the  drought  of  that  arid 
climate  by  the  slight  moisture  from  what  is  often 


628  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

a  buried  stream  at  the  base.  The  Indians  know 
them  by  heart,  and  not  only  lie  in  wait  in  them, 
but  escape  by  these  gullies,  that  often  run  on, 
growing  deeper  and  deeper  till  the  bed  of  a  river 
is  reached. 

In  one  of  these  ravines,  six  hundred  savages  in 
full  war-dress  were  in  ambush,  awaiting  the  train 
of  supplies,  and  sprang  out  from  their  hiding- 
place  with  horrible  yells  as  our  detachment  of 
less  than  fifty  men  approached.  Neither  officer 
lost  his  head  at  a  sight  that  was  then  new  to  him. 
Their  courage  was  inborn.  They  directed  the 
troops  to  form  a  circle  about  the  wagons,  and  in 
this  way  the  little  band  of  valiant  men  defended 
themselves  against  attack  after  attack.  Not  a 
soldier  flinched,  nor  did  a  teamster  lose  control  of 
his  mules,  though  the  effort  to  stampede  them 
was  incessant.  This  running  fight  lasted  for 
three  hours,  when  suddenly  the  Indians  withdrew. 
They,  with  their  experienced  eyes,  first  saw  the 
reinforcements  coming  to  the  relief  of  our  brave 
fellows,  and  gave  up  the  attack. 

The  first  time  I  saw  Colonel  Cook  after  this 
affair,  he  said  :  "  The  moment  I  found  the  Ind- 
ians were  on  us,  and  we  were  in  for  a  fight,  I 
thought  of  you,  and  said  to  myself,  '  If  she  were 
in  the  ambulance,  before  giving  an  order  I  would 
ride  up  and  shoot  her."  "  Would  you  have  given 


A  PROMISE  DEMANDED.  629 

me  no  chance  for  life,"  I  replied,  "in  case  the 
battle  had  gone  in  your  favor  ?"  "  Not  one,"  he 
said.  "  I  should  have  been  unnerved  by  the 
thought  of  the  fate  that  awaited  you,  and  I  have 
promised  the  General  not  to  take  any  chances, 
but  to  kill  you  before  anything  worse  could 
happen."  Already  in  these  early  days  of  the  regi- 
ment's history,  the  accounts  of  Indian  atrocities 
perpetrated  on  the  women  of  the  frontier  ranches, 
had  curdled  the  blood  of  our  men,  and  over  the 
camp-fire  at  night,  when  these  stories  were  dis- 
cussed, my  husband  had  said  to  the  officers  that 
he  should  take  every  opportunity  to  have  me 
with  him,  but  there  was  but  one  course  he  wished 
pursued  ;  if  I  was  put  in  charge  of  any  one  in  the 
regiment,  he  asked  them  to  kill  me  if  Indians 
should  attack  the  camp  or  the  escort  on  the 
march.  I  have  referred  in  general  terms  to  this 
understanding,  but  it  was  on  this  occasion  that 
the  seriousness  with  which  the  General's  request 
was  considered  by  his  brother  officers  first  came 
home  to  me. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

ENCAMPED  ON  BIG  CREEK PREPARATION    FOR  STORMS 

A  FLOOD  AT  FORT  HAYS KANSAS  LIGHTNING- 
SOLICITUDE    ABOUT    A  CLOTHES-LINE WOMEN    TO 

THE    RESCUE MEN  SAVED  FROM    DROWNING A 

NEW  KIND   OF    FERRY-BOAT CATLING   GUNS  AS 

ANCHORS GHASTLY  LIGHTS — ELIZA'S  NARRATIVE 

— FLORA  M'FLIMSY  ON  THE  FRONTIER — THE  RE- 
TREAT TO  A  PRAIRIE  DIVIDE. 

T3EFORE  General  Custer  left  for  Fort  McPher- 
son,  he  removed  our  tents  to  a  portion  of 
that  branch  of  Big  Creek  on  which  the  post  was 
established.  He  selected  the  highest  ground  he 
could  find,  knowing  that  the  rainy  season  was  not 
yet  over,  and  hoping  that,  if  the  camp  were  on  a 
knoll,  the  ground  would  drain  readily  and  dry 
quickly  after  a  storm.  We  were  not  a  great  dis- 
tance from  the  main  stream  and  the  fort,  but  still 
too  far  to  recognize  anyone  that  might  be  walking 
in  garrison.  The  stream  on  which  we  were  located 
was  tortuous,  and  on  a  bend  above  us  the  colonel 
commanding,  his  adjutant  and  his  escort  were 
established.  Between  us  and  the  fort,  General 


A  CANVAS  HOME.  63  I 

and  Mrs.  Gibbs  were  camped,  while  the  tents 
of  a  few  officers  on  detached  duty  were  still 
farther  on.  The  sentinel's  beat  was  along  a  line 
between  us  and  the  high  ground,  where  the  Ind- 
ians were  likely  to  steal  upon  us  from  the  bluffs. 
This  guard  walked  his  tour  of  duty  on  a  line  parallel 
with  the  stream,  but  was  too  far  from  it  to  observe 
the  water  closely.  Each  little  group  of  tents  made 
quite  a  show  of  canvas,  as  we  had  abundance  of 
room  to  spread  out,  and  the  quartermaster  was  not 
•obliged  to  limit  us  to  any  given  number  of  tents. 
We  had  a  hospital  tent  for  our  sitting-room,  with 
a  wall-tent  pitched  behind  and  opening  out  of  the 
larger  one,  for  our  bed-room.  There  was  a  wall- 
tent  for  the  kitchen,  near,  and  behind  us,  the  "  A  " 
tent  for  the  soldier  whom  the  General  had  left  to 
take  care  of  us  in  his  absence.  We  were  as  safely 
placed,  as  to  Indians,  as  was  possible  in  such  a 
country.  As  is  the  custom  in  military  life,  the 
officers  either  came  every  day,  or  sent  to  know  if 
I  could  think  of  anything  they  could  do  for  my 
comfort.  The  General  had  thought  of  everything, 
and,  besides,  I  did  my  best  not  to  have  any  wants. 
I  was  as  capable  of  manufacturing  needs  as  any- 
one, and  could  readily  trump  up  a  collection  in 
garrison,  but  1  was  rendered  too  wary  by  the  un- 
certainty of  my  tenure  of  that  (to  me)  valuable 
little  strip  of  ground  that  held  my  canvas  house, 


632  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

to  allow  my  presence  to  be  brought  home  to  those 
gallant  men,  as  a  trouble  or  a  responsibility.  The 
idea  that  I  might  have  to  retreat  eastward  was  a 
terror,  and  kept  in  subjection  any  passing  wish  I 
might  indulge  to  have  anything  done  for  me.  I 
would  gladly  have  descended  into  one  of  the 
cellar-like  habitations  that  were  so  common  in 
Kansas  then,  and  had  my  food  handed  down  to 
me,  if  this  would  have  enabled  the  officers  to  for- 
get that  I  was  there,  until  the  expedition  returned 
from  the  Platte.  Yet  the  elements  were  against 
me,  and  did  their  best  to  interfere  with  my  desire 
to  obliterate  myself,  as  far  as  being  an  anxiety  to 
others  was  concerned. 

One  night  we  had  retired,  and  were  trying  to 
believe  that  the  thunder  was  but  one  of  those 
peculiar  menacing  volleys  of  cloud-artillery  that 
sometimes  passed  over  harmlessly  ;  but  we  could 
not  sleep,  the  roar  and  roll  of  thunder  was  so 
alarming.  There  is  no  describing  lightning  on 
the  Plains.  While  a  storm  lasts,  there  seems  to 
be  an  incessant  glare.  To  be  sure,  there  is  not 
the  smallest  flash  that  does  not  illumine  the  tent, 
and  there  is  no  way  of  hiding  from  the  blinding 
light.  In  a  letter  written  to  my  husband  while 
the  effect  of  the  fright  was  still  fresh  on  my  mind," 
I  told  him  "  the  heavens  seemed  to  shower  down 
fire  upon  the  earth,  and  in  one  minute  and  a  half 


TWO  TERRIFIED  WOMEN:  63  3 

we  counted  twenty-five  distinct  peals  of  thunder." 
There  seemed  to  be  nothing  for  us  to  do  but  to 
lie  quaking  and  terrified  under  the  covers.  The 
tents  of  the  officers  were  placed  at  some  distance 
from  ours  intentionally,  as  it  is  impossible  to 
speak  low  enough,  under  canvas,  to  avoid  being 
heard,  unless  a  certain  space  intervenes.  It  is 
the  custom  to  allow  a  good  deal  of  ground  to  in- 
tervene, if  the  guard  is  so  posted  as  to  command 
the  approach  to  all  the  tents.  The  result  was, 
that  we  dared  not  venture  to  try  to  reach  a  neigh- 
bor ;  we  simply  had  to  endure  the  situation,  as 
no  cry  could  be  heard  above  the  din  of  the  con- 
stantly increasing  storm.  In  the  midst  of  this 
quaking  and  misery,  the  voice  of  some  officers 
outside  called  to  ask  if  we  were  afraid.  Finding 
that  the  storm  was  advancing  to  a  tornado,  they 
had  decided  to  return  to  us  and  render  assistance 
if  they  could,  or  at  least  to  quiet  our  fears.  The 
very  sound  of  their  voices  calmed  us,  and  we 
dressed  and  went  into  the  outer  tent  to  admit 
them.  The  entrance  had  been  made  secure  by 
leather  straps  and  buckles  that  the  General  had 
the  saddler  put  on  ;  and  in  order  to  strengthen 
the  tents  against  these  hurricanes,  which  we  had 
already  learned  were  so  violent  and  sudden,  he 
had  ordered  poles  at  each  corner  sunk  deep  into 
the  ground.  These,  being  notched,  had  saplings 


V 
634  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

laid  across  either  side,  and  to  these  the  tent-ropes 
were  bound.  We  were  thus  seemingly  secured 
between  two  barriers.  He  even  went  further  in 
his  precautions,  and  fastened  a  picket-rope,  which 
is  a  small  cable  of  itself,  to  either  end  of  the 
ridge-pole,  stretching  it  at  the  front  and  rear,  and 
fastening  it  with  an  iron  pin  driven  into  the 
ground.  As  we  opened  two  or  three  of  the  straps 
to  admit  the  officers  and  Eliza,  who  always  over- 
came every  obstacle  to  get  to  me  in  danger,  the 
wind  drove  in  a  sheet  of  rain  upon  us,  and  we 
found  it  difficult  to  strap  the  opening  again.  As 
for  the  guy-ropes  and  those  that  tied  the  tent  at  the 
sides,  all  this  creaking,  loosening  cordage  proved 
how  little  we  could  count  upon  its  stability. 
The  great  tarpaulin,  of  the  heaviest  canvas  made, 
which  was  spread  over  our  larger  tent  and  out  in 
front  for  a  porch,  flapped  wildly,  lashing  our  poor 
little  "  rag  house  "  as  if  in  a  fury  of  rage.  In- 
deed, the  whole  canvas  seemed  as  if  it  might 
have  been  a  cambric  handkerchief,  for  the  man- 
ner in  which  it  was  wrenched  and  twisted  above 
and  on  all  sides  of  us.  The  tallow  candle  was 
only  kept  lighted  by  surrounding  it  with  boxes 
to  protect  its  feeble  flame  from  the  wind.  The 
rain  descended  in  such  sheets,  driven  by  the  hur- 
ricane, that  it  even  pressed  in  the  tent-walls  ;  and 
in  spite  of  the  trenches,  that  every  good  campaign- 


THR  SOAKED  EAfiTff.  635 

ner  digs  about  the  tent,  we  were  almost  inundated 
by  the  streams  that  entered  under  the  lower  edge 
of  the  walls. 

The  officers,  finding  we  were  sure  to  be  drenched, 
began  to  fortify  us  for  the  night.  They  feared 
the  tent  would  go  down,  and  that  the  ridge-pole 
of  a  hospital-tent,  being  so  much  larger  than  that 
of  a  wall-tent,  would  do  some  fatal  injury  to  us. 
They  piled  all  the  available  furniture  in  a  hollow 
square,  leaving  a  little  space  for  us.  Fortunately, 
some  one,  coming  down  from  the  post  a  few  days 
before,  had  observed  that  we  had  no  table.  There 
was  no  lumber  at  the  post,  and  the  next  best  thing 
was  to  send  us  a  zinc-covered  board  which  had 
first  served  for  a  stove  ;  secondly,  with  the  addition 
of  rude  supports,  as  our  table,  and  now  did  duty  in 
its  third  existence  as  a  life-preserver;  for  the  ground 
was  softening  with  the  moisture,  and  we  could  not 
protect  our  feet,  except  for  the  narrow  platform 
on  which  we  huddled.  At  last  the  booming  of 
the  thunder  seemed  to  abate  somewhat,  though 
the  wind  still  shrieked  and  roared  over  the  wide 
plain,  as  it  bore  down  upon  our  frail  shelter.  But 
the  tent,  though  swaying  and  threatening  to  break 
from  its  moorings,  had  been  true  to  us  through 
what  we  supposed  to  be  the  worst  of  the  tempest, 
and  we  began  to  put  some  confidence  in  the  cord- 
age and  picket-pins.  The  officers  decided  to  re- 


636  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

turn  to  their  tents,  promising  to  come  again  should 
there  be  need,  and  we  reluctantly  permitted  them 
to  go.  Eliza  put  down  something  on  which  we 
could  step  over  the  pools  into  the  other  tent,  and 
we  fell  into  bed,  exhausted  with  terror  and  excite- 
ment, hardly  noticing  how  wet  and  cold  we  and 
the  blankets  were. 

Hardly  had  we  fallen  into  a  doze,  when  the 
voice  of  the  guard  at  the  entrance  called  out  to 
us  to  get  up  and  make  haste  for  our  lives;  the 
flood  was  already  there !  We  were  so  agitated 
that  it  was  difficult  even  to  find  the  clothes  that 
we  had  put  under  the  pillow  to  keep  them  from 
further  soaking,  much  more  to  get  into  them.  It 
was  then  impossible  to  remain  inside  of  the  tent. 
We  crept  through  the  opening,  and,  to  our  horror, 
the  lightning  revealed  the  creek — which  we  had 
last  seen,  the  night  before,  a  little  rill  in  the  bot- 
tom of  the  gully — now  on  a  level  with  the  high 
banks.  The  tops  of  good-sized  trees,  which  fringed 
the  stream,  were  barely  visible,  as  the  current 
swayed  the  branches  in  its  onward  sweep.  The 
water  had  risen  in  that  comparatively  short  time 
thirty-five  feet,  and  was  then  creeping  into  the 
kitchen  tent,  which,  as  usual,  was  pitched  near 
the  bank.  I  believe  no  one  attempted  to  account 
for  those  terrific  rises  in  the  streams,  except  as 
partly  due  to  water-spouts,  which  were  common 


PROTECTING  HOUSEHOLD  EFFECTS.  637 

in  the  early  days  of  Kansas.  I  have  seen  the  Gen- 
eral hold  his  watch  in  his  hand  after  the  bursting 
of  a  rain-cloud,  and  keep  reckoning  for  the  soldier 
who  was  measuring  with  a  stick  at  the  stream's 
bed,  and  for  a  time  it  recorded  an  inch  a  minute. 

Of  course  the  camp  was  instantly  astir  after  the 
alarm  of  the  guard.  But  the  rise  of  the  water  is 
so  insidious  often,  that  a  sentinel  walking  his  beat 
a  few  yards  away  will  sometimes  be  unconscious 
of  it  until  the  danger  is  upon  the  troops.  The 
soldiers,  our  own  man,  detailed  as  striker,  and 
Eliza,  were  not  so  "  stampeded,"  as  they  expressed 
it,  as  to  forget  our  property.  Almost  everything 
that  we  possessed  in  the  world  was  there,  much 
of  our  property  being  fortunately  still  boxed.  I 
had  come  out  to  camp  with  a  valise,  but  the 
wagon-train  afterward  brought  most  of  our  things, 
as  we  supposed  we  had  left  Fort  Riley  forever. 
The  soldiers  worked  like  beavers  to  get  every- 
thing they  could  farther  from  the  water,  upon  a 
little  rise  of  ground  at  one  side  of  our  tents.  Eliza, 
the  coolest  of  all,  took  command,  and  we  each 
carried  what  we  could,  forgetting  the  lightning  in 
our  excitement. 

The  officers  who  had  come  to  us  in  the  early 
part  of  the  tempest  now  returned.  They  found 
their  own  camp  unapproachable.  The  group  of 
tents  having  been  pitched  on  a  bend  in  the 


638  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

crooked  stream,  which  had  the  advantage  of  the 
circle  of  trees  that  edged  the  water,  was  now 
found  to  be  in  the  worst  possible  locality,  as  the 
torrent  had  swept  over  the  narrow  strip  of  earth 
and  left  the  camp  on  a  newly  made  island,  per- 
fectly inaccessible.  The  lives  of  the  men  and 
horses  stranded  on  this  little  water-locked  spot 
were  in  imminent  peril.  The  officers  believed 
us  when  we  said  we  would  do  what  we  could  to 
care  for  ourselves  if  they  would  go  at  once,  as  they 
had  set  out  to  do,  and  find  succor  for  the  soldiers. 
It  was  a  boon  to  have  something  that  it  was 
necessary  to  do,  which  kept  us  from  absolute 
abandonment  to  terror.  We  hardly  dared  look 
toward  the  rushing  torrent ;  the  agony  of  seeing 
the  water  steal  nearer  and  nearer  our  tent  was 
almost  unendurable.  As  we  made  our  way  from 
the  heap  of  household  belongings,  back  and  forth 
to  the  tent,  carrying  burdens  that  we  could  not 
even  have  lifted  in  calmer  moments,  the  light- 
ning became  more  vivid  and  the  whole  arc  above 
us  seemed  aflame.  We  were  aghast  at  what  the 
brilliant  light  revealed.  Between  the  bluffs  that 
rose  gradually  from  the  stream,  and  the  place 
where  we  were  on  its  banks,  a  wide,  newly  made 
river  spread  over  land  that  had  been  perfectly  dry, 
and,  as  far  as  any  one  knew,  had  never  been  inun- 
dated before.  The  water  had  overflowed  the 


INUNDA  TIONS.  639 

banks  of  the  stream  above  us,  and  swept  across 
the  slight  depression  that  intervened  between  our 
ground  and  the  hills.  We  were  left  on  that  nar- 
row neck  of  land,  and  the  water  on  either  side  of 
us,  seen  in  the  lightning's  glare,  appeared  like 
two  boundless  seas.  The  creek  had  broken  over 
its  banks  and  divided  us  from  the  post  below, 
while  the  garrison  found  themselves  on  an  island 
also,  as  the  water  took  a  new  course  down  there, 
and  cut  them  off  from  the  bluffs.  This  was  a  mis- 
fortune to  us,  as  we  had  so  small  a  number  of 
men  and  sorely  needed  what  help  the  post  could 
have  offered. 

While  we  ran  hither  and  thither,  startled  at  the 
shouts  of  the  officers  and  men  as  they  called  to 
one  another,  dreading  some  new  terror,  our  hearts 
sinking  with  uncontrollable  fright  at  the  wild 
havoc  the  storm  was  making,  the  two  dogs  that 
the  General  valued,  Turk  the  bull-dog,  and  Rover 
his  favorite  fox-hound,  broke  their  chains  and  flew 
at  each  other's  throat.  Their  warfare  had  been 
long  and  bloody,  and  they  meant  that  night  to 
end  the  contest.  The  ferocity  of  the  bull-dog  was 
not  greater  than  that  of  the  old  hound.  The  sol- 
diers sprang  at  them  again  and  again  to  separate 
them.  The  fangs  of  each  showed  partly  buried 
in  the  other's  throat,  but  finally,  one  powerful  man 
choked  the  bull-dog  into  relaxing  his  hold.  The 


640  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

remnants  of  the  gashed  and  bleeding  contestants 
were  again  tied  at  a  secure  distance,  and  the  sol- 
diers renewed  their  work  to  prevent  the  tents  from 
falling.  I  remember  that  in  one  gale,  especially 
furious,  seventeen  clung  to  the  guy-rope  in  front 
and  saved  the  canvas  from  downfall. 

But,  after  all,  something  worse  awaited  us  than 
all  this  fury  of  the  elements  and  the  dread  of 
worse  to  come  to  ourselves ;  for  the  reality  of  the 
worst  that  can  come  to  anyone  was  then  before 
us  without  a  warning:  There  rang  out  on  the  air, 
piercing  our  ears  even  in  the  uproar  of  the  tem- 
pest, sounds  that  no  one,  once  hearing,  ever  for- 
gets. They  were  the  despairing  cries  of  drowning 
men.  In  an  instant  our  danger  was  forgotten  ; 
but  the  officers  and  men  were  scattered  along 
the  stream  beyond  our  call,  and  Eliza  was  now 
completely  unnerved.  We  ran  up  and  down 
the  bank,  wringing  our  hands,  she  calling  to  me, 
"  Oh,  Miss  Libbie !  What  shall  we  do  ?  What  shall 
we  do  ?  "  We  tried  to  scream  to  those  dark  forms 
hurrying  by  us,  that  help  might  come  farther 
down.  Alas!  the  current  grew  more  furious  as 
the  branch  poured  into  the  main  stream,  and  we 
could  distinguish,  by  the  oft-repeated  glare  of  the 
lightning,  the  men  waving  their  arms  imploringly 
as  they  were  swept  down  with  tree-trunks,  masses 
of  earth,  and  heaps  of  rubbish  that  the  current 


HUMANITY  AND  FRUGALITY.  64! 

was  drifting  by.  We  were  helpless  to  attempt 
their  rescue.  There  can  be  few  moments  in  exist- 
ence that  hold  such  agonizing  suffering  as  those 
where  one  is  appealed  to  for  life,  and  is  powerless 
to  give  succor.  I  thought  of  the  ropes  about  our 
tent,  and  ran  to  unwind  one  ;  but  they  were 
lashed  to  the  poles,  stiff  with  moisture,  and  tied 
with  sailors'  intricate  knots.  In  a  frenzy,  I  tugged 
at  the  fastenings,  bruising  my  hands  and  tearing 
the  nails.  The  guy-ropes  were  equally  unavail- 
able, for  no  knife  we  had  could  cut  such  a  cable. 
Eliza,  beside  herself  with  grief  to  think  she 
could  not  help  the  dying  soldiers,  with  whom  she 
had  been  such  a  favorite,  came  running  to  me 
where  I  was  insanely  struggling  with  the  cordage, 
and  cried,  "  Miss  Libbie,  there's  a  chance  for  us 
with  one  man.  He's  caught  in  the  branches  of  a 
tree ;  but  I've  seen  his  face,  and  he's  alive.  He's 
most  all  of  him  under  water,  and  the  current  is 
a-switchin'  him  about  so  he  can't  hold  out  long. 
Miss  Libbie,  there's  my  clothes-line  we  could  take, 
but  I  can't  do  it,  I  can't  do  it !  Miss  Libbie,  you 
wouldn't  have  me  to  do  it,  would  you  ?  For 
where  will  we  get  another  ?  "  The  grand  human- 
ity that  illumined  the  woman's  face,  full  of  the 
nobility  of  desire  to  save  life,  was  so  interwoven 
with  frugality  and  her  inveterate  habit  of  protect- 
ing our  things,  that  I  hardly  know  how  the  con- 


642  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

troversy  in  her  own  mind  would  have  ended,  if  I 
had  not  flown  to  the  kitchen  tent  to  get  the 
clothes-line.  The  current  swayed  the  drowning 
man  so  violently  he  was  afraid  to  loosen  his  hold 
of  the  branches  to  reach  the  rope  as  we  threw  it 
to  him  over  and  over  again,  and  it  seemed  mo- 
mentarily that  he  must  be  torn  from  our  sight. 
The  hue  of  death  was  on  his  face — that  terrible 
blue  look — while  the  features  were  pinched  with 
suffering,  and  the  eyes  starting  from  their  sockets. 
He  was  naked  to  the  waist,  and  the  chill  of  the 
water,  and  of  those  hours  that  come  before  dawn, 
had  almost  benumbed  the  fingers  that  clutched 
the  branches.  Eliza,  like  me,  has  forgotten  noth- 
ing that  happened  during  that  horrible  night,  and 
I  give  part  of  her  story,  the  details  of  which  it  is 
so  difficult  for  me  to  recall  with  calmness  : 

"  Miss  Libbie,  don't  you  mind  when  we  took 
the  clothes-line  an'  went  near  to  him  as  we  could 
get,  he  didn't  seem  to  understan'  what  we  was 
up  to.  We  made  a  loop  and  showed  it  to  him, 
when  a  big  flash  of  lightnin'  came  and  made  a 
glare,  and  tried  to  call  to  him  to  put  it  over  his 
head.  The  noise  of  the  water,  and  the  crashin' 
of  the  logs  that  was  comin'  down,  beside  the 
thunder,  drownded  out  our  voices.  Well,  we  worked 
half  an  hour  over  that  man.  He  thought  you  and 
me,  Miss  Libbie,  couldn't  pull  him  in  ;  that  we 


A  GENEROUS    WOMAN.  643 

wasn't  strong  enough.  He  seemed  kind  o'  dazed- 
like  ;  and  the  only  way  I  made  him  know  what  the 
loop  was  for,  I  put  it  on  over  my  body  and  made 
signs.  Even  then,  he  was  so  swept  under  that 
part  of  the  bank,  and  it  was  so  dark,  I  didn't  think 
we  could  get  him.  I  could  hear  him  bubbhn', 
bellowin',  drownin'  and  gaggin'.  Well,  we  pulled 
him  in  at  last,  though  I  got  up  to  my  waist 
in  water.  He  was  cold  and  blue,  his  teeth  chat- 
terin' ;  he  just  shuck  and  shuck,  and  his  eyes  was 
perfectly  wild.  We  had  to  help  him,  for  he  could 
hardly  walk  to  the  cook  tent.  I  poured  hot  coffee 
down  him  ;  and,  Miss  Libbie,  you  tore  aroun'  in 
the  dark  and  found  your  way  to  the  next  tent  for 
whisky,  and  the  lady  that  never  was  known  to 
keep  any  before,  had  some  then.  And  I  wrapped 
the  drownded  man  in  the  blouse  the  Ginnel  give 
me.  It  was  cold  and  I  was  wet,  and  I  needed  it, 
Miss  Libbie  ;  but  didn't  that  man,  as  soon  as  ever 
his  teeth  stopped  a-chatterin',  jest  get  up  and 
walk  off  with  it  ?  And,  Miss  Libbie,  the  Ginnel 
wrote  to  you  after  that,  from  some  expedition,  that 
he  had  seen  the  soldier  Eliza  gave  her  clothes-line 
to  save,  and  he  sent  his  thanks  and  asked  how  I  was, 
and  said  I  had  saved  his  life.  I  just  sent  back 
word,  in  the  next  letter  you  wrote  the  Ginnel, 
to  ask  if  that  man  said  anything  about  my  blouse 
he  wore  off  that  night.  You  gave  one  of  the  Gin- 


644  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

nel's  blue  shirts  to  a  half-naked  drownded  man. 
We  saved  two  more  and  wrapped  'em  in  blankets, 
and  you  rubbed  'em  with  red  pepper,  and  kept  the 
fire  red-hot,  and  talked  to  them,  tryin'  to  get  the 
shiver  and  the  scare  out  of  'em.  I  tell  you,  Miss 
Libbie,  we  made  a  fight  for  their  lives,  if  ever  any- 
one did.  The  clothes-line  did  it  all.  One  was 
washed  near  to  our  tent,  and  I  grabbed  his 
hand.  We  went  roun'  with  our  lanterns,  and  it 
was  so  dark  we  'spected  every  moment  to  step  into 
a  watery  grave,  for  the  water  was  so  near  us,  and 
the  flashes  of  lightnin'  would  show  that  it  was  a- 
comin'  on  and  on.  Turk  and  Rover  would  fight 
just  by  looking  at  each  other,  and  in  all  that  mess 
they  fell  on  each  other,  an'  I  was  sure  they 
was  goin'  to  kill  each  other,  and,  oh,  my,  the 
Ginnel  would  have  taken  on  so  about  it !  But 
the  soldiers  dragged  them  apart." 

Seven  men  were  drowned  near  our  tent,  and 
their  agonizing  cries,  when  they  were  too  far  out 
in  the  current  for  us  to  throw  our  line,  are  sounds 
that  will  never  be  stilled.  The  men  were  from 
the  Colonel's  escort  on  the  temporary  island 
above  us.  The  cavalrymen  attempted,  as  the 
waters  rose  about  them,  to  swim  their  horses  to 
the  other  shore ;  but  all  were  lost  who  plunged 
in,  for  the  violence  of  the  current  made  swimming 
an  impossibility.  A  few  negro  soldiers  belonging 


IN  PERIL  OF  DROWNING.  645 

to  the  infantry  were  compelled  to  remain  where 
they  were,  though  the  water  stood  three  feet  in 
some  of  the  tents.  When  the  violence  of  the 
storm  had  abated  a  little,  one  of  the  officers  swam 
the  narrowest  part  of  the  stream,  and,  taking  a 
wagon-bed,  made  a  ferry,  so  that  with  the  help  of 
soldiers  that  he  had  left  behind  holding  one  end 
of  the  rope  he  had  taken  over,  the  remaining 
soldiers  were  rescued  and  brought  down  to  our 
little  strip  of  land.  Alas  !  this  narrowed  and  nar- 
rowed, until  we  all  appeared  to  be  doomed.  The 
officers  felt  their  helplessness  when  they  realized 
that  four  women  looked  to  them  for  protection. 
They  thought  over  every  imaginable  plan.  It  was 
impossible  to  cross  the  inundated  part  of  the 
plain,  though  their  horses  were  saddled,  with  the 
thought  that  each  one  might  swim  with  us  through 
the  shallowest  of  the  water.  They  rode  into  this 
stretch  of  impassable  prairie,  but  the  water  was 
too  swift,  even  then,  to  render  it  anything  but 
perilous.  They  decided  that  if  the  water  contin- 
ued to  rise  with  the  same  rapidity  we  would  be 
washed  away,  as  we  could  not  swim  nor  had  we 
strength  to  cling  to  anything.  This  determined 
them  to  resort  to  a  plan,  that  happily  we  knew 
nothing  of  until  the  danger  was  passed.  We  were 
to  be  strapped  to  the  Catling  guns  as  an  anchor- 
age. These  are,  perhaps,  the  lightest  of  all  artillery, 


646  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

but  might  have  been  heavy  enough  to  resist  the 
action  of  what  current  rose  over  our  island.  There 
would  have  been  one  chance  in  ten  thousand  of 
rescue  under  such  circumstances,  but  I  doubt  if 
being  pinioned  there,  watching  the  waves  closing 
around  us,  would  have  been  as  merciful  as  per- 
mitting us  to  float  off  into  a  quicker  death. 

While  the  officers  and  men  with  us  were  work- 
ing with  all  their  might  to  save  lives  and  property, 
the  little  post  was  beleaguered.  The  flood  came 
so  unexpectedly  that  the  first  known  of  it  was  the 
breaking  in  of  the  doors  of  the  quarters.  The 
poorly  built,  leaky,  insecure  adobe  houses  had  been 
heretofore  a  protection,  but  the  freshet  filled  them 
almost  instantly  with  water.  The  quarters  of  the 
laundresses  were  especially  endangered,  being 
on  even  lower  ground  than  the  officers'  houses. 
The  women  were  hurried  out  in  their  night-dresses, 
clasping  their  crying  children,  while  they  ran  to 
places  pointed  out  by  the  officers,  to  await  orders. 
Even  then,  one  of  our  Seventh  Cavalry  officers, 
who  happened  to  be  temporarily  at  the  garrison, 
clambered  up  to  the  roof  of  an  adobe  house  to 
discover  whether  the  women  of  his  regiment  were 
in  peril.  The  same  plan  for  rescue  was  adopted 
at  the  post  that  had  been  partly  successful 
above.  A  ferry  was  improvised  out  of  a 
wagon-bed,  and  into  this  were  collected  the  women 


A  BOAT  MADE  OF  A   WAGON-BED.  647 

and  children.  The  post  was  thus  emptied  in 
time  to  prevent  loss  of  life.  First  the  women, 
then  the  sick  from  the  hospital,  and  finally  the 
drunken  men  ;  for  the  hospital  liquor  was  broken 
into,  and  it  takes  but  a  short  time  to  make  a 
soldier  helplessly  drunk.  The  Government  prop- 
erty had  to  be  temporarily  abandoned,  and  a  great 
deal  was  destroyed  or  swept  away  by  the  water. 
It  was  well  that  the  camp  women  were  inured  to 
hardship,  for  the  condition  in  which  the  cold,  wetr 
frightened  creatures  landed,  without  any  protec- 
tion from  the  storm,  on  the  opposite  bank,  was 
pitiful.  One  laundress  had  no  screams  of  terror 
or  groans  of  suffering  over  physical  fright  ;  her 
wails  were  loud  and  continuous  because  her  sav- 
ings had  been  left  in  the  quarters,  and  facing 
death  in  that  frail  box,  as  she  was  pulled  through 
the  turbid  flood,  was  nothing  to  the  pecuniary 
loss.  It  was  all  the  men  could  do  to  keep  her 
from  springing  into  the  wagon-bed  to  return  and 
search  for  her  money. 

On  still  another  branch  of  Big  Creek  there  was 
another  body  of  men  wrestling  with  wind  and 
wave.  Several  companies,  marching  to  New 
Mexico,  had  encamped  for  the  night,  and  the 
freshet  came  as  suddenly  upon  them  as  upon  all 
of  us.  The  colonel  in  command  had  to  seize  his 
wife,  and  wade  up  to  his  arms  in  carrying  her  to  a 


648  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

safe  place.  Even  then,  they  were  warned  that  the 
safety  was  but  temporary.  The  ambulance  was 
harnessed  up,  and  they  drove  through  water  that 
almost  swept  them  away,  before  they  reached 
higher  ground.  There  was  a  strange  coincidence 
about  the  death,  eventually,  of  this  officer's  wife. 
A  year  afterward  they  were  encamped  on  a 
Texas  stream,  with  similar  high  banks,  betokening 
freshets,  and  the  waters  rose  suddenly,  compelling 
them  to  take  flight  in  the  ambulance  again ;  but 
this  time  the  wagon  was  overturned  by  the  current, 
and  the  poor  woman  was  drowned. 

When  the  day  dawned,  we  were  surrounded  by 
water,  and  the  havoc  about  us  was  dreadful.  But 
what  a  relief  it  was  to  have  the  rain  cease,  and 
feel  the  comfort  of  daylight.  Eliza  broke  up  her 
bunk  to  make  a  fire,  and  we  had  breakfast  for 
everybody,  owing  to  her  self-sacrifice.  The  water 
began  to  subside,  and  the  place  looked  like  a  vast 
laundry.  All  the  camp  was  flying  with  blankets, 
bedding  and  clothes.  We  were  drenched,  of 
course,  having  no  dry  shoes  even,  to  replace  those 
in  which  we  had  raced  about  in  the  mud  during 
the  night.  But  these  were  small  inconveniences, 
compared  with  the  agony  of  terror  that  the  night 
had  brought.  As  the  morning  advanced,  and  the 
stream  fell  constantly,  we  were  horrified  by  the 
sight  of  a  soldier,  swollen  beyond  all  recognition, 


THE  STORM  RISES  AGAIN.  649 

whose  drowned  body  was  imbedded  in  the  side 
of  the  bank,  where  no  one  could  reach  it,  and  where 
we  could  not  escape  the  sight  of  it.  He  was  one 
who  had  implored  us  to  save  him,  and  our  failure 
to  do  so  seemed  even  more  terrible  than  the  night 
before,  as  we  could  not  keep  our  fascinated  gaze 
from  the  stiffened  arm  that  seemed  to  have  been 
stretched  out  entreatingly. 

Though  we  were  thankful  for  our  deliverance, 
the  day  was  a  depressing  one,  for  the  horror  of 
the  drowning  men  near  us  could  not  be  put  out 
of  our  minds.  As  night  came  on  again,  the  clouds 
began  to  look  ominous;  it  was  murky,  and  it 
rained  a  little. 

At  dark  word  came  from  the  fort,  to  which 
some  of  the  officers  had  returned,  that  we  must 
attempt  to  get  to  the  high  ground,  as  the  main 
stream,  Big  Creek,  was  again  rising.  All  the 
officers  were  alarmed.  They  kept  measuring  the 
advance  of  the  stream  themselves,  and  guards 
were  stationed  at  intervals,  to  note  the  rise  of  the 
water  and  report  its  progress.  The  torch-lights 
they  held  were  like  tiny  fire-flies,  so  dark  was  the 
night.  An  ambulance  was  driven  to  our  tent  to 
make  the  attempt  to  cross  the  water,  which  had 
abated  there  slightly,  and,  if  possible,  to  reach  the 
divide  beyond.  One  of  the  officers  went  in  ad- 
vance, on  horseback,  to  try  the  depth  of  the  water. 


650  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

It  was  a  failure,  and  the  others  forbade  our  going, 
thinking  it  would  be  suicidal.  While  they  were 
arguing,  Diana  and  I  were  wrapping  ourselves  in 
what  outside  garments  we  had  in  the  tent.  She 
had  been  plucky  through  the  terrible  night,  writ- 
ing next  morning  to  the  General  that  she  never 
wished  herself  for  one  moment  at  home,  and  that 
even  with  such  a  fright  she  could  never  repay  us 
for  bringing  her  out  to  a  life  she  liked  so  much. 
Yet  as  we  tremblingly  put  on  our  outside  things, 
she  began  to  be  agitated  over  a  subject  so  ridicu- 
lous in  such  a  solemn  and  dangerous  hour,  that  I 
could  not  keep  my  face  from  what  might  have 
been  a  smile  under  less  serious  circumstances. 
Her  trepidation  was  about  her  clothes.  She  ask- 
ed me  anxiously  what  she  should  do  for  dresses 
next  day,  and  insisted  that  she  must  take  her 
small  trunk.  In  vain  I  argued  that  we  had  no- 
where to  go.  We  could  but  sit  in  the  ambulance 
till  dawn,  even  if  we  were  fortunate  enough  to 
escape  to  the  bluff.  She  still  persisted,  saying, 
"  What  if  we  should  reach  a  fort,  and  I  was 
obliged  to  appear  in  the  gown  I  now  wear  ?"  I 
asked  her  to  remember  that  the  next  fort  was 
eighty  miles  distant,  with  enough  water  between 
it  and  us  to  float  a  ship,  not  to  mention  roving 
bands  of  Indians  lying  in  wait  ;  but  this  by  no 
means  quieted  her  solicitude  about  her  appearance. 


FLORA  Me  FLIMSY.  65  I 

At  last  I  suggested  her  putting  on  three  dresses, 
one  over  the  other,  and  then  taking,  in  the  little 
trunk  from  which  she  could  not  part,  the  most 
necessary  garments  and  gowns.  When  I  went 
out  to  get  into  the  wagon,  after  the  other  officers 
had  left,  and  found  our  one  escort  determined 
still  to  venture,  I  was  obliged  to  explain  that 
Diana  could  not  make  up  her  mind  to  part  with 
her  trunk.  He  was  astounded  that  at  such  an 
hour,  in  such  a  perilous  situation,  clothes  should 
ever  enter  anyone's  head.  But  the  trunk  appeared 
at  the  entrance  of  the  tent,  to  verify  my  words. 
He  argued  that  with  a  wagon  loaded  with  several 
people,  it  would  be  perilous  to  add  unnecessary 
weight  in  driving  through  such  ground.  Then, 
with  all  his  chivalry,  working  night  and  day  to 
help  us,  there  came  an  instant  when  he  could  no 
longer  do  justice  to  the  occasion  in  our  presence  ; 
so  he  stalked  off  to  one  side,  and  what  he  said  to 
himself  was  lost  in  the  growl  of  the  thunder. 

The  trunk  was  secured  in  the  ambulance,  and 
Diana,  Eliza  and  I  followed.  There  we  sat, 
getting  wetter,  more  frightened  and  less  plucky 
as  the  time  rolled  on.  Again  were  we  forbidden 
to  attempt  this  mode  of  escape,  and  condemned 
to  return  to  the  tent,  which  was  vibrating  in 
the  wind  and  menacing  a  downfall.  No  woman 
ever  wished  more  ardently  for  a  brown-stone 


652  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

front  than  I  longed  for  a  dug-out.  Any  hole  in 
the  side  of  a  bank  would  have  been  a  palace  to 
me,  living  as  I  did  in  momentary  expectation  of 
no  covering  at  all.  The  rarest,  most  valuable  of 
homes  meant  to  me  something  that  could  not 
blow  away.  Those  women  who  take  refuge  in 
these  days  in  their  cyclone  cellar — now  the  popu- 
lar architecture  of  the  West — will  know  well  how 
comforting  it  is  to  possess  something  that  cannot 
be  readily  lifted  up  and  deposited  in  a  neighbor- 
ing county. 

With  the  approach  of  midnight,  there  was  again 
an  abatement  in  the  rain,  and  the  water  of  the 
stream  ceased  to  creep  toward  us  ;  so  the  officers, 
gaining  some  confidence  in  its  final  subsidence, 
again  left  us  to  go  to  their  tents.  For  three  days 
the  clouds  and  thunder  threatened,  but  at  last  the 
sun  appeared.  In  a  letter  to  my  husband,  dated 
June  9,  1867,  I  wrote:  "When  the  sun  came 
out  yesterday,  we  could  almost  have  worshipped 
it,  like  the  heathen.  We  have  had  some  dreadful 
days,  and  had  not  all  the  officers  been  so  kind  to 
us,  I  do  not  know  how  we  could  have  endured 
what  we  have.  Even  some  whom  we  do  not  know 
have  shown  the  greatest  solicitude  in  our  behalf. 
We  are  drenching  wet  still,  and  everything  we 
have  is  soggy  with  moisture.  Last  evening,  after 
two  sleepless  nights,  Mrs.  Gibbs  and  her  two  boys, 


ESCAPE  TO  A  DIVIDE.  653 

Alphie  and  Blair,  Diana  and  I,  were  driven  across 
the  plain,  from  which  the  water  is  fast  disappear- 
ing", to  the  coveted  divide  beyond.  It  is  not  much 
higher,  as  you  know,  than  the  spot  where  our 
tents  are ;  but  it  looked  like  a  mountain,  as  we 
watched  it,  while  the  water  rose  all  around  us. 
Some  of  the  officers  had  tents  pitched  there,  and  we 
women  were  given  the  Sibley  tent  with  the  floor, 
that  sheltered  me  in  the  other  storm.  We  dropped 
down  in  heaps,  we  were  so  exhausted  for  want  of 
sleep,  and  it  was  such  a  relief  to  know  that  at  last 
the  water  could  not  reach  us."  The  letter  (con- 
tinued from  day  to  day,  as  no  scouts  were  sent 
out)  described  the  moving  of  the  camp  to  more 
secure  ground.  It  was  incessant  motion,  for  no 
place  was  wholly  satisfactory  to  the  officers.  I 
confessed  that  I  was  a  good  deal  unnerved  by  the 
frights,  that  every  sound  startled  me,  and  a  shout 
from  a  soldier  stopped  my  breathing  almost,  so 
afraid  was  I  that  it  was  the  alarm  of  another 
freshet — while  the  clouds  were  never  more  closely 
watched  than  at  that  time. 

A  fresh  trouble  awaited  me,  for  General  Han- 
cock came  to  camp  from  Harker,  and  brought  bad 
news.  The  letter  continues  :  "  The  dangers  and 
terrors  of  the  last  few  days  are  nothing,  compared 
with  the  information  that  General  Hancock  brings. 
It  came  near  being  the  last  proverbial  '  straw.*  I 


654  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

was  heart-sick  indeed,  when  I  found  that  our 
schemes  for  being  together  soon  were  so  ruthlessly 
crushed.  General  Hancock  says  that  it  looks  as  if 
you  would  be  in  the  Department  of  the  Platte  for 
several  months — at  which  he  is  justly  indignant— 
but  he  is  promised  your  return  before  the  summer  is 
ended.  He  thinks,  that  if  I  want  to  go  so  badly, 
I  may  manage  to  make  you  a  flying  visit  up  there; 
and  this  is  all  that  keeps  me  up.  The  summer 
here,  so  far  separated  from  you,  seems  to  stretch 
out  like  an  arid  desert.  If  there  were  the  faintest 
shadow  of  a  chance  that  I  would  see  you  here 
again,  I  would  not  go,  as  we  are  ordered  to.  I 
will  come  back  here  again  if  I  think  there  is  the 
faintest  prospect  of  seeing  you.  If  you  say  so,  I 
will  go  to  Fort  McPherson  on  the  cars,  if  I  get  the 
ghost  of  an  opportunity." 

Eliza,  in  ending  her  recollections  of  the  flood  at 
Fort  Hays,  says,  "  Well,  Miss  Libbie,  when  the 
water  rose  so,  and  the  men  was  a-drownin',  I  said 
to  myself  in  the  night,  if  God  spared  me,  that 
would  be  the  last  of  war  for  me  ;  but  when  the 
waters  went  down,  and  the  sun  came  out,  then  we 
began  to  cheer  each  other  up,  and  were  willing  to 
go  right  on  from  there,  if  we  could,  for  we  wanted 
to  see  the  Ginnel  so  bad.  But  who  would  have 
thought  that  the  stream  would  have  risen  around 
the  little  knoll  as  it  did  ?  The  Ginnel  thought  he 


AFFECTIONATE  SOLICITUDE.  655 

had  fixed  us  so  nice,  and  he  had,  Miss  Libbie,  for 
it  was  the  knoll  that  saved  us.  The  day  the  regi- 
ment left  for  Fort  McPherson,  the  Ginnel  staid 
behind  till  dark,  gettin'  everythin'  in  order  to 
make  you  comfortable,  and  he  left  at  1 2  o'clock 
at  night,  with  his  escort,  to  join  the  troops.  He'd 
rather  ride  all  night  than  miss  that  much  of  his 
visit  with  you.  Before  he  went,  he  came  to  my 
tent  to  say  good-by.  I  stuck  my  hand  out,  and 
said,  '  Ginnel,  I  don't  like  to  see  you  goin'  off  in 
this  wild  country,  at  this  hour  of  the  night.'  .  . 
'  I  have  to  go/  he  says,  '  wherever  I'm  called 
Take  care  of  Libbie,  Eliza;'  and  puttin'  spurs  to 
his  horse,  off  he  rode.  Then  I  thought  they'd 
certainly  get  him,  ridin'  right  into  the  mouth  of 
'em.  You  know  how  plain  the  sound  comes  over 
the  prairie,  with  nothin',  no  trees  or  anythin',  to 
interfere.  Well,  in  the  night  I  was  hearin'  quare 
sounds.  Some  might  have  said  they  was  buffalo, 
but  on  they  went,  lumpety  lump,  lumpety  lump, 
and  they  was  Indians !  Miss  Libbie,  sure  as  you're 
born,  they  was  Indians  gettin'  out  of  the  way, 
and,  oh !  I  was  so  scart  for  the  Ginnel." 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

ORDERED  BACK  TO  FORT  MARKER A  DRUNKEN  ESCORT 

WILD-FLOWERS COLOR  WITHOUT   ODOR GAME 

WILD  HORSES A  DROMEDARY  ON  THE  PLAINS— 

A  WOMAN    PIONEERING A    RIDDLED    STAGE OUR 

BED    RUNNING    AWAY CHOLERA A    CONTRAST 

RECKONING  CHANCES  OF  PROMOTION THE  ADDLED 

MAIL-CARRIER. 

A  FTER  the  high-water  experience,  our  things 
were  scarcely  dry  before  I  found,  for  the 
second  time,  what  it  was  to  be  under  the  complete 
subjection  of  military  rule.  The  fiat  was  issued 
that  we  women  must  depart  from  camp  and  re- 
turn to  garrison,  as  it  was  considered  unsafe  for 
us  to  remain.  It  was  an  intense  disappointment  ; 
for  though  Fort  Hays  and  our  camp  were  more 
than  dreary,  after  the  ravages  of  the  storm,  to 
leave  there  meant  cutting  myself  off  from  any 
other  chance  that  might  come  in  my  way  of  join- 
ing my  husband,  or  of  seeing  him  at  our  camp. 
Two  of  the  officers  and  an  escort  of  ten  mounted 
men,  going  to  Fort  Harker  on  duty,  accompanied 
our  little  cortege  of  departing  women.  At  the 
first  stage-station,  the  soldiers  all  dismounted  as 


A  FORCED  RETREAT.  657 

we  halted,  and  managed  by  some  pretext  to  get 
into  the  dug-out  and  buy  whisky.  Not  long  after 
we  were  again  en  route  I  saw  one  of  the  men  reel 
on  his  saddle,  and  he  was  lifted  into  the  wagon 
that  carried  forage  for  the  mules  and  horses.  One 
by  one,  all  were  finally  dumped  into  the  wagons 
by  the  teamsters,  who  fortunately  were  sober,  and 
the  troopers'  horses  were  tied  behind  the  vehicles, 
and  we  found  ourselves  without  an  escort.  Plains 
whisky  is  usually  very  rapid  in  its  effect,  but  the 
stage-station  liquor  was  concocted  from  drugs 
that  had  power  to  lay  out  even  a  hard-drinking 
old  cavalryman  like  a  dead  person,  in  what 
seemed  no  time  at  all.  Eliza  said  they  only 
needed  to  smell  it,  'twas  so  deadly  poison.  A 
barrel  of  tolerably  good  whisky  sent  from  the 
States  was,  by  the  addition  of  drugs,  made  into 
several  barrels  after  it  reached  the  Plains. 

The  hours  of  that  march  seemed  endless".  We 
were  helpless,  and  knew  that  we  were  going  over 
ground  that  was  hotly  contested  by  the  red  man. 
We  rose  gradually  to  the  summit  of  each  divide,  and 
looked  with  anxious  eyes  into  every  depression  ; 
but  we  were  no  sooner  relieved  to  find  it  safe, 
than  my  terrors  began  as  to  what  the  next  might 
reveal.  When  we  came  upon  an  occasional  ravine, 
it  represented  to  my  frightened  soul  any  number 
of  Indians  in  ambush. 


658  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

In  that  country  the  air  is  so  clear  that  every  ob- 
ject on  the  brow  of  a  small  ascent  of  ground  is 
silhouetted  against  the  deep  blue  of  the  sky.  The 
Indians  place  little  heaps  of  stones  on  these  slight 
eminences,  and  lurk  behind  them  to  watch  the 
approach  of  troops.  Every  little  pile  of  rocks 
seemed,  to  my  strained  eyes,  to  hide  the  head  of  a 
savage.  They  even  appeared  to  move,  and  this 
effect  was  heightened  by  the  waves  of  heat  that 
hover  over  the  surface  of  the  earth  under  that 
blazing  sun.  I  was  thoroughly  frightened,  doubt- 
less made  much  more  so  because  I  had  nothing 
else  to  think  of,  as  the  end  of  the  journey  would 
not  mean  for  me  what  the  termination  of  ever  so 
dangerous  a  march  would  have  been  in  the  other 
direction.  Had  I  been  going  over  such  country 
to  join  my  husband,  the  prospect  would  have  put 
temporary  courage  into  every  nerve.  During  the 
hours  of  daylight  the  vigilance  of  the  officers  was 
unceasing.  They  knew  that  one  of  the  most 
hazardous  days  of  their  lives  was  upon  them. 
They  felt  intensely  the  responsibility  of  the  care  of 
us  ;  and  I  do  not  doubt,  gallant  as  they  were,  that 
they  mentally  pronounced  anathemas  upon  officers 
who  had  wanted  to  see  their  wives  so  badly  that 
they  had  let  them  come  into  such  a  country. 
When  we  had  first  gone  over  the  route,  however, 
its  danger  was  not  a  circumstance  to  this  time. 


DISTANT  OBJECTS  A  TERROR.  659 

Our  eyes  rarely  left  the  horizon  ;  they  were 
strained  to  discern  signs  that  had  come  to  be 
familiar,  even  by  our  hearing  them  discussed  so 
constantly  ;  and  we,  still  novices  in  the  experience 
of  that  strange  country,  had  seen  for  ourselves 
enough  to  prove  that  no  vigilance  was  too  great. 
If  on  the  monotonous  landscape  a  whirl  of  dust 
arose,  instantly  it  was  a  matter  of  doubt  whether 
it  meant  our  foe  or  one  of  the  strange  eccentricities 
of  that  part  of  the  world.  The  most  peculiar 
communions  are  those  that  the  clouds  seem  to 
have  with  the  earth,  which  result  in  a  cone  of 
dust  whirlpooling  itself  straight  in  the  air,  while 
the  rest  of  the  earth  is  apparently  without  commo- 
tion, bearing  no  relation  to  the  funnel  that  seems 
to  struggle  upward  and  be  dissolved  into  the 
passing  wind.  With  what  intense  concentration 
we  watched  to  see  it  so  disappear  !  If  the  puff  of 
dust  continued  to  spread,  the  light  touching  it 
into  a  deeper  yellow  and  finally  revealing  some 
darker  shades,  and  at  last  shaping  itself  into  dusky 
forms,  we  were  in  agony  of  suspense  until  the 
field-glasses  proved  that  it  was  a  herd  of  antelopes 
fleeing  from  our  approach.  There  literally  seemed 
to  be  not  one  inch  of  the  way  that  the  watchful 
eyes  of  the  officers,  the  drivers,  or  we  women  were 
not  strained  to  discover  every  object  that  specked 
the  horizon  or  rose  on  the  trail  in  front  of  us. 


66O  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

With  all  the  terror  and  suspense  of  those  drag- 
ging miles,  I  could  not  be  insensible  to  the  superb 
and  riotous  colors  of  the  wild-flowers  that  carpet- 
ed our  way.  It  was  the  first  time  that  I  had  ever 
been  where  the  men  could  not  be  asked,  and 
were  not  willing,  to  halt  or  let  me  stop  and 
gather  one  of  every  kind.  The  gorgeousness  of 
the  reds  and  orange  of  those  prairie  blossoms  was 
a  surprise  to  me.  I  had  not  dreamed  that  the 
earth  could  so  glow  with  rich  tints.  The  spring 
rains  had  soaked  the  ground  long  enough  to  start 
into  life  the  wonderful  dyes  that  for  a  brief  time 
emblazon  the  barren  wilderness.  The  royal  livery 
floats  but  a  short  period  over  their  temporary  do- 
main, for  the  entire  cessation  of  even  the  night 
dews,  and  the  intensity  of  the  scorching  sun, 
shrivels  the  vivid,  flaunting,  feathery  petals,  and 
burns  the  venturesome  roots  down  into  the  earth. 
What  presuming  things,  to  toss  their  pennants 
over  so  inhospitable  a  land  !  But  what  a  boon  to 
travelers  like  ourselves  to  see,  for  even  the  brief 
season,  some  tint  besides  the  burnt  umber  and 
yellow  ochre  of  those  plains.  All  the  short  exist- 
ence of  these  flowers  is  condensed  into  the  color, 
tropical  in  richness  ;  not  one  faint  waft  of  per- 
fume floated  on  the  air  about  us.  But  it  was  all 
we  ought  to  have  asked,  that  their  brilliant  heads 
appear  out  of  such  soil.  This  has  served  to  make 


ODORLESS  FL  O  WERS.  66 1 

me  very  appreciative  of  the  rich  exhalation  of  the 
Eastern  gardens.  I  do  not  dare  say  what  the  first 
perfume  of  the  honeysuckle  is  to  me,  each  year 
now  ;  nor  would  I  infringe  upon  the  few  adjec- 
tives vouchsafed  the  use  of  a  conventional  Eastern 
woman  when,  as  it  happened  this  year,  the  orange 
blossoms,  white  jessamine,  and  woodbine  wafted 
their  sweet  breaths  in  my  face  as  a  welcome  from 
one  garden  to  which  good  fortune  led  me.  I  re- 
member the  starvation  days  of  that  odorless  life, 
when,  seeing  rare  colors,  we  instantly  expected 
rich  odors,  but  found  them  not,  and  I  try  to  adapt 
myself  to  the  customs  of  the  country,  and  not 
rave  ;  but,  like  the  children,  keep  up  a  mighty 
thinking. 

Buffalo,  antelope,  blacktail  deer,  coyote,  jack- 
rabbits,  scurried  out  of  our  way  on  that  march, 
and  we  could  not  stop  to  follow.  I  was  looking 
always  for  some  new  sight,  and,  after  the  relief 
that  I  felt  when  each  object  as  we  neared  it  turned 
out  to  be  harmless,  was  anxious  to  see  a  drove  of 
wild  horses.  There  were  still  herds  to  be  found 
between  the  Cimmaron  and  the  Arkansas  rivers. 
The  General  told  me  of  seeing  one  of  the  herds 
on  a  march,  spoke  with  great  admiration  and  en- 
thusiasm of  the  leader,  and  described  him  as 
splendid  in  carriage,  and  bearing  his  head  in  the 
proudest,  loftiest  manner  as  he  led  his  followers. 


662  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

They  were  not  large  ;  they  must  have  been  the 
Spanish  pony  of  Cortez'  time,  as  we  know  that  the 
horse  is  not  indigenous  to  America.  The  flowing 
mane  and  tail,  the  splendid  arch  of  the  neck,  and 
the  proud  head  carried  so  loftily,  give  the  wild 
horses  a  larger,  taller  appearance  than  is  in  reality 
theirs.  Few  ever  saw  the  droves  of  wild  horses 
more  than  momentarily.  They  run  like  the  wind. 

After  the  introduction  of  the  dromedary  into 
Texas,  many  years  since,  for  transportation  of 
supplies  over  that  vast  territory,  one  was  brought 
up  to  Colorado.  Because  of  the  immense  runs  it 
could  make  without  water,  it  was  taken  into  the 
region  frequented  by  the  wild  horses,  and  when 
they  were  sighted,  the  dromedary  was  started  in 
pursuit.  Two  were  run  down,  and  found  to  be 
nearly  dead  when  overtaken.  But  the  poor  drom- 
edary suffered  so  from  the  prickly-pear  filling  the 
soft  ball  of  its  feet,  that  no  farther  pursuit  could 
ever  be  undertaken. 

I  had  to  be  content  with  the  General's  descrip- 
tion, for  no  wild  horses  came  in  our  way.  But 
there  was  enough  to  satisfy  any  one  in  the  way  of 
game.  The  railroad  had  not  then  driven  to  the 
right  and  left  the  inhabitants  of  that  vast  prairie. 
Our  country  will  never  again  see  the  Plains  dotted 
with  game  of  all  sorts.  The  railroad  stretches  its 
iron  bands  over  these  desert  wastes,  and  scarcely 


A  WOMAN  OF  COURAGE.  663 

a  skulking  coyote,  hugging  the  ground  and  sneak- 
ing into  gulches,  can  be  discovered  during  a  whole 
day's  journey. 

As  the  long  afternoon  was  waning,  we  were 
allowed  to  get  out  and  rest  a  little  while,  for  we 
had  reached  what  was  called  the  "Home  Station," 
because  at  this  place  there  was  a  woman,  then  the 
only  one  along  the  entire  route.  I  looked  with 
more  admiration  than  I  could  express  on  this  fear- 
less creature,  long  past  the  venturesome  time  of 
early  youth,  when  some  dare  much  for  excite- 
ment. She  was  as  calm  and  collected  as  her  hus- 
band, whom  she  valued  enough  to  endure  with 
him  this  terrible  existence.  How  good  the  things 
tasted  that  she  cooked,  and  how  different  the 
dooryard  looked  from  those  of  the  other  stations  ! 
Then  she  had  a  baby  antelope,  and  the  apertures 
that  served  as  windows  had  bits  of  white  curtains, 
and,  altogether,  I  did  not  wonder  that  over  the 
hundreds  of  miles  of  stage-route  the  Home  Station 
was  a  place  the  men  looked  forward  to  as  the 
only  reminder  of  the  civilization  that  a  good 
woman  establishes  about  her.  There  was  an 
awful  sight,  though,  that  riveted  my  eyes  as  we 
prepared  to  go  on  our  journey,  and  the  officers 
could  not,  by  any  subterfuge,  save  us  from  seeing 
it.  It  was  a  disabled  stage-coach,  literally  riddled 
with  bullets,  its  leather  hanging  in  shreds,  and  the 


664  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

woodwork  cut  into  splinters.  When  there  was 
no  further  use  of  trying  to  conceal  it  from  us,  we 
were  told  that  this  stage  had  come  into  the  station 
in  that  condition  the  day  before,  and  the  fight 
that  the  driver  and  mail-carrier  had  been  through 
was  desperate.  There  was  no  getting  the  sight 
of  that  vehicle  out  of  my  mind  during  the  rest  of 
the  journey.  What  a  friend  the  darkness  seemed, 
as  it  wrapped  its  protecting  mantle  about  us,  after 
the  long  twilight  ended,  yet  it  was  almost  impos- 
sible to  sleep,  though  we  knew  we  were  compara- 
tively safe  till  dawn.  At  daybreak  the  officers 
asked  us  to  get  out,  while  the  mules  were  watered 
and  fed,  and  rest  ourselves,  and  though  I  had  been 
so  long  riding  in  a  cramped  position,  I  would 
gladly  have  declined.  Cleanliness  is  next  to  Godli- 
ness, and,  one  of  our  friends  said,  "  With  a  woman, 
it  is  before  Godliness,"  yet  that  was  an  occasion 
when  I  would  infinitely  have  preferred  to  be  num- 
bered with  the  great  unwashed.  However,  a  place 
in  the  little  stream  at  the  foot  of  the  gully  was 
pointed  out,  and  we  took  our  tin  basin  and  towel 
and  freshened  ourselves  by  this  early  toilet ;  but 
there  was  no  lingering  to  prink,  even  on  the  part 
of  the  pretty  Diana.  Our  eyes  were  staring  on 
all  sides,  with  a  dread  impossible  to  quell,  and 
back  into  the  ambulance  we  climbed,  not  breath- 
ing a  long  free  breath  until  the  last  of  those  terri- 


AGAIN  IT  STORMS.  665 

ble  eighty  miles  were  passed,  and  we  beheld  with 
untold  gratitude  the  roofs  of  the  quarters  at  Fort 
Harker. 

I  felt  that  we  had  trespassed  as  much  as  we 
ought  upon  the  hospitality  of  the  commanding 
officer  of  the  post,  and  begged  to  be  allowed  to 
sleep  in  our  ambulance  while  we  remained  in  the 
garrison.  He  consented,  under  protest,  and  our 
wagon  and  that  of  Mrs.  Gibbs  were  placed  in  the 
space  between  two  Government  storehouses,  and 
a  tarpaulin  was  stretched  over  the  two.  Eliza 
prepared  our  simple  food  over  a  little  camp-fire. 
While  the  weather  remained  good,  this  was  a  very 
comfortable  camp  for  us — but  when,  in  Kansas,  do 
the  elements  continue  quiet  for  twenty-four  hours? 
In  the  darkest  hour  of  the  blackest  kind  of  night 
the  wind  rose  into  a  tempest,  rushing  around  the 
corners  of  the  buildings,  hunting  out  with  perti- 
nacity from  front  and  rear  our  poor  little  temporary 
home.  The  tarpaulin  was  lifted  on  high,  and  with 
ropes  and  picket-pins  thrashing  on  the  canvas  it 
finally  broke  its  last  moorings  and  soared  off  into 
space.  The  rain  beat  in  the  curtains  of  the  ambu- 
lance and  soaked  our  blankets.  Still,  we  crept 
together  on  the  farther  side  of  our  narrow  bed 
and,  rolled  up  in  our  shawls,  tried  to  hide  our  eyes 
from  the  lightning,  and  our  ears  from  the  roar  of 
the  storm  as  it  swept  between  the  sheltering  build- 


666  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

ings  and  made  us  feel  as  if  we  were  camping  in  a 
tunnel. 

Our  neighbor's  dog  joined  his  voice  with  the 
sobs  and  groans  of  the  wind,  while  in  the  short 
intervals  of  quiet  we  called  out,  trying  to  get 
momentary  courage  from  speech  with  each  other. 
The  curtain  at  the  end  of  the  ambulance  jerked 
itself  free,  and  in  came  a  deluge  of  rain  from  a 
new  direction.  Pins,  strings  and  four  weak 
hands  holding  their  best,  did  no  earthly  good, 
and  I  longed  to  break  all  military  rule  and 
scream  to  the  sentinel.  Not  to  speak  to  a  guard  on 
post  is  one  of  the  early  lessons  instilled  into  every 
one  in  military  life.  It  required  such  terror  of 
the  storm  and  just  such  a  drenching  as  we  were 
getting,  even  to  harbor  a  thought  of  this  direct 
disobedience  of  orders.  Clutching  the  wagon- 
curtains  and  watching  the  soldier,  who  was  re- 
vealed by  the  frequent  flashes  of  lightning  as  he 
tramped  his  solitary  way,  might  have  gone  on  for 
some  time  without  the  necessary  courage  coming 
to  call  him,  but  a  new  departure  of  the  wind  sud- 
denly set  us  in  motion,  and  I  found  that  we  were 
spinning  down  the  little  declivity  back  of  us,  with 
no  knowledge  of  when  or  where  we  would  stop. 
Then  I  did  scream,  and  the  peculiar  shrillness  of 
a  terrified  woman's  voice  reached  the  sentinel. 
Blessed  breaker  of  his  country's  laws !  He 


RESCUE  BY  A  SOLDIER.  667 

answered  to  a  higher  one,  which  forbids  him  to 
neglect  a  woman  in  danger,  and  left  his  beat  to 
run  to  our  succor. 

Our  wagon  was  dragged  back  by  some  of  the 
soldiers  on  night  duty  at  the  guard-house,  and 
was  newly  pinioned  to  the  earth  with  stronger 
picket-pins  and  ropes,  but  sleep  was  murdered 
for  that  night.  Of  course  the  guard  reported  to 
the  commanding  officer,  as  is  their  rule,  and  soon 
a  lantern  or  two  came  zigzagging  over  the  parade- 
ground  in  our  direction,  and  the  officers  called  to 
know  if  they  could  speak  with  us.  There  was  no 
use  in  arguing.  Mrs.  Gibbs  and  her  boys,  Diana 
drenched  and  limp  as  to  clothes,  and  I  decidedly 
moist,  were  fished  out  of  our  watery  camp-beds, 
and  with  our  arms  full  of  apparel  and  satchels,  we 
followed  the  officers  in  the  dark  to  the  dry  quar- 
ters, that  we  had  tried  our  best  to  decline  rather 
than  make  trouble. 

It  was  decided  that  we  must  proceed  to  Fort 
Riley,  as  there  were  no  quarters  to  offer  us  ;  and 
tent-life,  as  I  have  tried  to  describe  it,  had  its 
drawbacks  in  the  rainy  season.  Had  it  not 
meant  for  me  ninety  miles  farther  separation 
from  my  husband,  seemingly  cut  off  from  all 
chance  of  joining  him  again,  I  would  have  wel- 
comed the  plan  of  going  back,  as  Fort  Harker 
was  at  this  time  the  most  absolutely  dismal  and 


668  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

melancholy  spot  I  remember  ever  to  have  seen. 
A  terrible  and  unprecedented  calamity  had  fal- 
len upon  the  usually  healthful  place,  for  cholera 
had  broken  out,  and  the  soldiers  were  dying"  by 
platoons.  I  had  been  accustomed  to  think,  in  all 
the  vicissitudes  that  had  crowded  themselves  into 
these  few  months,  whatever  else  we  were  deprived 
of,  we  at  least  had  a  climate  unsurpassed  for  salu- 
brity, and  I  still  think  so.  For  some  strange 
reason,  right  out  in  the  midst  of  that  wide,  open 
plain,  with  no  stagnant  water,  no  imperfect  drain- 
age, no  earthly  reason,  it  seemed  to  us,  this 
epidemic  had  suddenly  appeared,  and  in  a  form 
so  violent  that  a  few  hours  of  suffering  ended 
fatally.  Nobody  took  dying  into  consideration 
out  there  in  those  days  ;  all  were  well  and  able- 
bodied,  and  almost  everyone  was  young,  who  ven- 
tured into  that  new  country,  so  no  lumber  had 
been  provided  to  make  coffins.  For  a  time  the 
rudest  receptacles  were  hammered  together  made 
out  of  the  hard-tack  boxes.  Almost  immediate  bur- 
ial took  place,  as  there  was  no  ice,  nor  even  a  safe 
place  to  keep  the  bodies  of  the  unfortunate  vic- 
tims. It  was  absolutely  necessary,  but  an  awful 
thought  nevertheless,  this  scurrying  under  the 
ground  of  the  lately  dead,  perhaps  only  wrapped 
in  a  coarse  gray  army  blanket,  and  with  the  burial 
service  hurriedly  read,  for  all  were  needed  as 


PESTILENCE.  669 

nurses,  and  time  was  too  precious  to  say  even  the 
last  words,  except  in  haste.  The  officers  and  their 
families  did  not  escape,  and  sorrow  fell  upon 
every  one  when  an  attractive  young  woman,  who 
had  dared  everything  in  the  way  of  hardships  to 
follow  her  husband,  was  marked  by  that  terrible 
finger  which  bade  her  go  alone  into  the  valley  of 
death.  In  the  midst  of  this  scourge,  the  Sisters 
of  Charity  came.  Two  of  them  died,  and  after- 
ward a  priest,  but  they  were  replaced  by  others, 
who  remained  until  the  pestilence  had  wrought  its 
worst  ;  then  they  gathered  the  orphaned  children 
of  the  soldiers  together,  and  returned  with  them 
to  the  parent  house  of  their  Order  in  Leavenworth. 
I  would  gladly  have  these  memories  fade  out 
of  my  life,  for  the  scenes  at  that  post  have  no  ray 
of  light  except  the  heroic  conduct  of  the  men  and 
women,  who  stood  their  ground  through  the  dan- 
ger. I  cannot  pass  by  those  memorable  days  in 
the  early  history  of  Kansas  without  my  tribute  to 
the  brave  officers  and  men  who  went  through  so 
much  to  open  the  way  for  settlers.  I  lately  rode 
through  the  State,  which  seemed  when  I  first  saw 
it  a  hopeless,  barren  waste,  and  found  the  land 
under  fine  cultivation,  the  houses,  barns  and  fences 
excellently  built,  cattle  in  the  meadows,  and, 
sometimes,  several  teams  ploughing  in  one  field. 
I  could  not  help  wondering  what  the  rich  owners 


670  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

of  these  estates  would  say,  if  I  should  step  down 
from  the  car  and  give  them  a  little  picture  of 
Kansas,  with  the  hot,  blistered  earth,  dry  beds  of 
streams,  and  soil  apparently  so  barren  that  not 
even  the  wild-flowers  would  bloom,  save  for  a 
brief  period  after  the  spring  rains.  Then  add 
pestilence,  Indians,  and  an  undisciplined,  muti- 
nous soldiery  who  composed  our  first  recruits, 
and  it  seems  strange  that  our  officers  persevered 
at  all.  I  hope  the  prosperous  ranchman  will  give 
them  one  word  of  thanks  as  he  advances  to  great- 
er wealth,  since  but  for  our  brave  fellows  the 
Kansas  Pacific  Railroad  could  not  have  been  built; 
nor  could  the  early  settlers,  daring  as  they  were, 
have  sowed  the  seed  that  now  yields  them  such 
rich  harvests. 

We  had  no  choice  about  leaving  Fort  Harker. 
There  was  no  accommodation  for  us,  indeed  we 
would  have  hampered  the  already  overworked 
officers  and  men;  so  we  took  our  departure  for 
Fort  Riley.  There  we  found  perfect  quiet;  the 
negro  troops  were  reduced  to  discipline,  and  every- 
thing went  on  as  if  there  were  no  such  thing  as 
the  dead  and  the  dying  that  we  had  left  a  few 
hours  before.  There  was  but  a  small  garrison, 
and  we  easily  found  empty  quarters,  that  were 
lent  to  us  by  the  commanding  officer. 

Then  the  life  of  watching  and  waiting,  and  try- 


A  BRAVE  SPIRIT  QUAILS.  671 

ing  to  possess  my  soul  in  patience,  began  again, 
and  my  whole  day  resolved  itself  into  a  mental 
protest  against  the  slowness  of  the  hours  before 
the  morning  mail  could  be  received.  It  was  a 
doleful  time  for  us;  but  I  remember  no  uttered 
complaints  as  such,  for  we  silently  agreed  they 
would  weaken  our  courage.  If  tears  were  shed, 
they  fell  on  the  pillow,  where  the  blessed  darkness 
came  to  absolve  us  from  the  rigid  watchfulness 
that  we  tried  to  keep  over  our  feelings.  My  hus- 
band blessed  many  a  dark  day  by  the  cheeriest 
letters.  How  he  ever  managed  to  write  so  buoyant- 
ly, was  a  mystery  when  I  found  afterward  what 
he  was  enduring.  I  rarely  had  a  letter  with  even 
so  much  as  a  vein  of  discontent,  during  all  our 
separations.  At  that  time  came  two  that  were 
strangely  in  contrast  to  all  the  brave,  encouraging 
missives  that  had  cheered  my  day.  The  accounts 
of  cholera  met  our  regiment  on  their  march  into 
the  Department  of  the  Platte;  and  the  General, 
in  the  midst  of  intense  anxiety,  with  no  prospect 
of  direct  communication,  assailed  by  false  reports 
of  my  illness,  at  last  showed  a  side  of  his  charac- 
ter that  was  seldom  visible.  His  suspense  regard- 
ing my  exposure  to  pestilence,  and  his  distress 
over  the  fright  and  danger  I  had  endured  at  the 
time  of  the  flood  at  Fort  Hays,  made  his  brave 
spirit  quail,  and  there  were  desperate  words  writ- 


672  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

ten,  which,  had  he  not  been  relieved  by  news  of 
my  safety,  would  have  ended  in  his  taking  steps 
to  resign.  Even  he,  whom  I  scarcely  ever  knew 
to  yield  to  discouraging  circumstances,  wrote  that 
he  could  not  and  would  not  endure  such  a  life. 

Our  days  at  Fort  Riley  had  absolutely  nothing 
to  vary  them  after  mail-time.  I  sat  on  the  gallery 
long  before  the  time  of  distribution,  pretending  to 
sew  or  read,  but  watching  constantly  for  the  door 
of  the  office  to  yield  up  next  to  the  most  important 
man  in  the  wide  world  to  me.  The  soldier  whose 
duty  it  was  to  bring  the  mail  became  so  inflated 
by  the  eagerness  with  which  his  steps  were 
watched,  that  it  came  near  being  the  death  of 
him  when  he  joined  his  company  in  the  autumn, 
and  was  lost  in  its  monotonous  ranks.  He  was  a 
ponderous,  lumbering  fellow  in  body  and  mind, 
who  had  been  left  behind  by  his  captain,  osten- 
sibly to  take  care  of  the  company  property,  but  I 
soon  found  there  was  another  reason,  as  his  wits 
had  for  some  time  been  unsettled — that  is,  giving 
him  the  benefit  of  a  doubt — if  he  ever  had  any. 
Addled  as  his  brain  might  be,  the  remnant  of  in- 
telligence was  ample  in  my  eyes  if  it  enabled  him 
to  make  his  way  to  our  door.  As  he  belonged  to 
the  Seventh  Cavalry,  he  considered  that  every- 
thing at  the  post  must  be  subservient  to  my  wish, 
when  in  reality  I  was  dependent  for  a  temporary 


THE   ADDLED   LETTER-CARRIER. 

673 


674  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

roof  on  the  courtesy  of  the  infantry  officer  in 
command.  If  I  even  met  him  in  our  walks,  he 
seemed  to  swell  to  twice  his  size,  and  to  feel  that 
some  of  the  odor  of  sanctity  hung  around  him, 
whether  he  bore  messsages  from  the  absent 
or  not. 

The  contents  of  the  mail-bag  being  divided, 
over  six  feet  of  anatomical  and  military  perfection 
came  stalking  through  the  parade-ground.  He 
would  not  demean  himself  to  hasten,  and  his 
measured  steps  were  in  accordance  with  the  gait 
prescribed  in  the  past  by  his  sergeant  on  drilL 
He  appeared  to  throw  his  head  back  more  loftily 
as  he  perceived  that  my  eyes  followed  his  creep- 
ing steps.  He  seemed  to  be  reasoning.  Did 
Napoleon  ever  run,  the  Duke  of  Wellington  ever 
hasten,  or  General  Scott  quicken  his  gait  or  impair 
his  breathing,  by  undue  activity,  simply  because 
an  unreasoning,  impatient  woman  was  waiting 
somewhere  for  them  to  appear  ?  It  was  not  at  all 
in  accordance  with  his  ideas  of  martial  character 
to  exhibit  indecorous  speed.  The  great  and  re- 
sponsible office  of  conveying  the  letters  from  the 
officer  to  the  quarters  had  been  assigned  to  him, 
and  nothing,  he  determined,  should  interfere  with 
its  being  filled  with  dignity.  His  country  looked 
to  him  as  its  savior.  Only  a  casual  and  conde- 
scending thought  was  given  to  his  comrades,  who 


A  POMPOUS  MARS.  675 

perhaps  at  that  time  were  receiving  in  their  bodies 
the  arrows  of  Indian  warriors.  No  matter  how 
eagerly  I  eyed  the  great  official  envelope  in  his 
hand,  which  I  knew  well  was  mine,  he  persisted 
in  observing  all  the  form  and  ceremony  that  he 
had  decided  was  suitable  for  its  presentation.  He 
was  especially  particular  to  assume  the  "  first 
position  of  a  soldier,"  as  he  drew  up  in  front  of 
me.  The  tone  with  which  he  addressed  me  was 
deliberate  and  grandiloquent.  The  only  variation 
in  his  regulation  manners  was  that  he  allowed 
himself  to  speak  before  he  was  spoken  to.  With 
the  flourish  of  his  colossal  arm,  in  a  salute  that 
took  in  a  wide  semicircle  of  Kansas  air,  he  said, 
"Good  morning,  Mrs.  Major -General  George 
Armstrong  Custer."  He  was  the  only  gleam  of 
fun  we  had  in  those  dismal  days.  He  was  a 
marked  contrast  to  the  disciplined  enlisted  man, 
who  never  speaks  unless  first  addressed  by  his 
superiors,  and  who  is  modesty  itself  in  demeanor 
and  language  in  the  presence  of  the  officers' 
wives.  The  farewell  salute  of  our  mail-carrier 
was  funnier  than  his  approach.  He  wheeled  on 
his  military  heel,  and  swung  wide  his  flourishing 
arm,  but  the  "  right  about  face  "  I  generally  lost, 
for,  after  snatching  my  envelope  from  him,  un- 
awed  by  his  formality,  I  fled  into  the  house  to 
hide,  while  I  laughed  and  cried  over  the  contents. 


CHAPTER   XXIII. 

THE  FIRST  FIGHT  OF  THE  SEVENTH  CAVALRY  -  RE- 
INFORCEMENTS OF  BLACK  TROOPS  —  A  NEGRO'S 
MANOEUVRE  -  A  UNIQUE  OFFICIAL  REPORT  -  PECU- 
LIAR FORTIFICATIONS  -  INDIAN  ATTACK  ON  A 
STAGE  -  A  DESPERATE  RUNNING  FIGHT  —  A  PLUCKY 
WOMAN  -  CHOLERA  AT  FORT  WALLACE  -  RETURN 
OF  THE  SEVENTH  THERE  -  SWINDLING  CONTRACT- 
ORS -  DESERTIONS  -  AN  INGENIOUS  PRISON  -  FORT 
WALLACE  ATTACKED  -  A  BRAVE  AND  SKILLFUL 
SERGEANT  -  THE  WORST  DAYS  OF  THE  SEVENTH 
-  NO  LETTERS  -  GENERAL  CUSTER's  MARCH  TO 
FORT  HARKER  FOR  SUPPLIES  -  A  DAY  AT  FORT 
RILEY  -  HAPPINESS  AT  LAST. 


^PHE  first  fight  of  the  Seventh  Cavalry  was  at 
Fort  Wallace.  In  June,  1867,  a  band  of 
three  hundred  Cheyennes,  under  Roman  Nose, 
attacked  the  stage-station  near  that  fort,  and  ran 
off  the  stock.  Elated  with  this  success,  they  pro- 
ceeded to  Fort  Wallace,  that  poor  little  group  of 
log  huts  and  mud  cabins  having  apparently  no 
power  of  resistance.  Only  the  simplest  devices 
could  be  resorted  to  for  defense.  The  com- 
missary stores  and  ammunition  were  partly 


NEGROES  VOLUNTEERING.  6/J 

protected  by  a  low  wall  of  gunny-sacks  filled 
with  sand.  There  were  no  logs  near  enough,  and 
no  time,  if  there  had  been,  to  build  a  stockade. 
But  our  splendid  cavalry  charged  out  as  boldly  as 
if  they  were  leaving  behind  them  reserve  troops 
and  a  battery  of  artillery.  They  were  met  by  a 
counter-charge,  the  Indians,  with  lances  poised 
and  arrows  on  the  string,  coming  on  swiftly  in 
overwhelming  numbers.  It  was  a  hand-to-hand 
fight.  Roman  Nose  was  about  to  throw  his  jave- 
lin at  one  of  our  men,  when  the  cavalryman,  with 
his  left  hand,  gave  a  sabre-thrust  equal  to  the  best 
that  many  good  fencers  can  execute  with  their 
sword-arm.  With  his  Spencer  rifle  he  wounded 
the  chief,  and  saw  him  fall  forward  on  his  horse. 
The  post  had  been  so  short  of  men  that  a  dozen 
negro  soldiers,  who  had  come  with  their  wagon 
from  an  outpost  for  supplies,  were  placed  near  the 
garrison  on  picket  duty.  While  the  fight  was 
going  on,  the  two  officers  in  command  found 
themselves  near  each  other  on  the  skirmish-line, 
and  observed  a  wagon  with  four  mules  tearing 
out  to  the  line  of  battle.  It  was  filled  with  negroes, 
standing  up,  all  firing  in  the  direction  of  the  Ind- 
ians. The  driver  lashed  the  mules  with  his  black- 
snake,  and  roared  at  them  as  they  ran.  When  the 
skirmish-line  was  reached,  the  colored  men  leaped 
out  and  began  firing  again.  No  one  had  ordered 


6;8 


TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 


them  to  leave  their  picket-station,  but  they  were 
determined  that  no  soldiering  should  be  carried 
on  in  which  their  valor  was  not  proved.  The 
officers  saw  with  surprise  that  one  of  the  number 
ran  off  by  himself  into  the  most  dangerous  place, 
and  one  of  them  remarked,  "  There's  a  gone  nigger, 
for  a  certainty !  "  They  saw  him  fall,  throw  up  his 
hands,  kick  his  feet  in  the  air,  and  then  collapse- 
dead  to  all  appearances.  After  the  fight  was  over, 
and  the  Indians  had  withdrawn  to  the  bluffs,  the 
soldiers  were  called  together  and  ordered  back  to 
the  post.  At  that  moment  a  negro,  gun  in  hand, 
walked  up  from  where  the  one  supposed  to  be 
slain  had  last  been  seen.  It  was  the  dead  restored 
to  life.  When  asked  by  the  officer,  "  What  in 
thunder  do  you  mean,  running  off  at  such  a  distance 
into  the  face  of  danger,  and  throwing  up  your  feet 
and  hands  as  if  shot?"  he  replied,  "Oh,  Lord, 
Massa,  I  just  did  dat  to  fool  'em.  I  fot  deyed  try 
to  get  my  scalp,  thinkin'  I  war  dead,  and  den  I'd 
jest  got  one  of  'em." 

The  following  official  report,  sent  in  from  some 
colored  men  stationed  at  Wilson's  Creek,  who 
were  attacked,  and  successfully  drove  off  the  Ind- 
ians, will  give  further  proof  of  their  good  service, 
while  at  the  same  time  it  reveals  a  little  of  other 
sides  of  the  negro,  when  he  first  began  to  serve 
Uncle  Sam  : 


679 


680  TESTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

"All  the  boys  done  bully,  but  Corporal  Johnson 
— he  flinked.  The  way  he  flinked  was,  to  wait, 
till  the  boys  had  drove  the  Injuns  two  miles,  and 
then  he  hollered,  '  Gin  it  to  'em  ! '  and  the  boys 
don't  think  that  a  man  that  would  Sink  that  way 
ought  to  have  corporal's  straps." 

In  order  to  give  this  effort  at  military  composi- 
tion its  full  effect,  it  wrould  be  necessary  to  add 
the  official  report  of  a  cut-and-dried  soldier.  No 
matter  how  trifling  the  duty,  the  stilted  language, 
bristling  with  technical  pomposity,  in  which  every 
military  move  is  reported,  makes  me,  a  non-com- 
batant, question  if  the  white  man  is  not  about  as 
absurd  in  his  way  as  the  darkey  was  in  his. 

Poor  Fort  Wallace  !  In  another  attack  on  the 
post,  where  several  of  our  men  were  killed,  there 
chanced  to  be  some  engineers  stopping  at  the 
garrison,  en  route  to  New  Mexico,  where  a  Gov- 
ernment survey  was  to  be  undertaken.  One  of 
them,  carrying  a  small  camera,  photographed  a 
sergeant  lying  on  the  battle-ground  after  the 
enemy  had  retreated.  The  body  was  gashed,  and 
pierced  by  twenty-three  arrows.  Everything 
combined  to  keep  that  little  garrison  in  a  state  of 
siege,  and  a  gloomy  pall  hung  over  the  beleaguered 
spot. 

As  the  stage-stations  were  one  after  another  at- 
tacked, burned,  the  men  murdered  and  the  stock 


UNDERGROUND  FOR TIFtCA  TION.  68  I 

driven  off,  for  a  distance  of  three  hundred  miles, 
the  difficulty  of  sending  mail  became  almost  in- 
surmountable. Denver  lay  out  there  at  the  foot  of 
the  mountains,  as  isolated  as  if  it  had  been  a  lone 
island  in  the  Pacific  Ocean.  Whenever  a  coach 
went  out  with  the  mail,  a  second  one  was  filled 
with  soldiers  and  led  the  advance.  The  Seventh 
Cavalry  endeavored  to  fortify  some  of  the  deserted 
stage-stations  ;  but  the  only  means  of  defense 
consisted  in  burrowing  under-ground.  After  the 
holes  were  dug,  barely  large  enough  for  four  men 
standing,  and  a  barrel  of  water  and  a  week's  pro- 
vision, it  was  covered  over  with  logs  and  turf, 
leaving  an  aperture  for  firing.  Where  the  men 
had  warning,  they  could  "  stand  off  "  many  Ind- 
ians, and  save  the  horses  in  another  dug-out 
adjacent. 

After  a  journey  along  the  infested  route,  where 
one  of  our  officers  was  detailed  to  post  a  corporal 
and  four  men  at  the  stations  when  the  stage  com- 
pany endeavored  to  reinstate  themselves,  he  de- 
cided to  go  on  into  Denver  for  a  few  days.  The 
detention  then  was  threatening  to  be  prolonged, 
and  at  the  stage  company's  headquarters  the 
greatest  opposition  was  encountered  before  our 
officer  could  induce  them  to  send  out  a  coach. 
Fortunately,  as  it  afterward  proved,  three  soldiers 
who  had  orders  to  return  to  their  troop,  accom- 


682  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

panied  him.  The  stage  company  opposed  every 
move,  and  warned  him  that  he  left  at  his  own  risk. 
But  there  was  no  other  alternative,  as  he  was  due 
and  needed  at  Fort  Wallace.  At  one  of  the 
stage-stations  nearest  Denver  a  woman  still  en- 
deavored to  brave  it  out  ;  but  her  nerve  deserted 
her  at  last,  and  she  implored  our  officer  to  take 
her  as  far  as  he  went  on  her  way  into  the  States. 
Her  husband,  trying  to  protect  the  company's  in- 
terests, elected  to  remain,  but  begged  that  his  wife 
might  be  taken  away  from  the  deadly  peril  of  their 
surroundings.  Our  officer  frankly  said  there  was 
very  little  chance  that  the  stage  would  ever  reach 
Fort  Wallace.  She  replied  that  she  had  been 
frightened  half  to  death  all  summer,  and  was  sure 
to  be  murdered  if  she  remained,  and  might  as 
well  die  in  the  stage,  as  there  was  no  chance  for 
her  at  the  station. 

Every  revolution  of  the  wheels  brought  them 
into  greater  danger.  The  three  soldiers  on  the 
top  of  the  stage  kept  a  lookout  on  every  side, 
while  the  officer  inside  sat  with  rifle  in  hand,  look- 
ing from  the  door  on  either  side  the  trail.  Even 
with  all  this  vigilance,  the  attack,  when  it  came, 
was  a  surprise.  The  Indians  had  hidden  in  a 
wash-out  near  the  road.  Their  first  shot  fatally 
wounded  one  of  the  soldiers,  who,  dropping  his 
gun,  fell  over  the  coach  railing,  and  with  dying 


684  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

energy,  half  swung  himself  into  the  door  of  the 
stage,  gasping  out  a  message  to  his  mother.  Our 
officer  replied  that  he  would  listen  to  the  parting 
words  later,  helped  the  man  to  get  upon  the  seat, 
and,  without  a  preliminary,  pushed  the  woman 
down  into  the  deep  body  of  the  coach,  bidding 
her,  as  she  valued  the  small  hope  of  life,  not  to 
let  herself  be  seen.  As  has  been  said  before, 
those  familiar  with  Indian  warfare  know  well  with 
what  redoubled  ferocity  the  savage  fights,  if  he 
finds  that  a  white  woman  is  likely  to  fall  into  his 
hands.  It  is  well  known,  also,  that  the  squaws 
are  ignored  if  the  chiefs  have  a  white  woman  in 
their  power,  and  it  brings  a  more  fearful  agony  to 
her  lot,  for  when  the  warriors  are  absent  from  the 
village,  the  squaws,  wild  with  jealousy,  heap 
cruelty  and  exhausting  labor  upon  the  helpless 
victim.  All  this  the  frontier  woman  knew,  as  we 
all  did,  and  it  needed  no  second  command  to 
keep  her  imperiled  head  on  the  floor  of  the  coach. 
The  instant  the  dying  soldier  had  dropped  his 
gun,  the  driver — ah,  what  cool  heads  those  stage- 
drivers  had  ! — seized  the  weapon, thrusting  his  lines 
between  his  agile  and  muscular  knees,  inciting  his 
mules,  and  every  shot  had  a  deadly  aim.  The 
soldiers  fired  one  volley,  and  then  leaped  to  the 
ground  as  the  officer  sprang  from  the  stage  door, 
and  following  beside  the  vehicle,  continued  to 


A   WOMAN  OF  NERVE.  685 

fire  as  they  walked.  The  first  two  shots  from  the 
roof  of  the  coach  had  killed  two  Indians  hidden 
in  the  hole  made  by  the  wash-out.  By  that 
means  our  men  got  what  they  term  the  "  morale" 
on  them,  and  though  they  pursued,  it  was  at  a 
greater  distance  than  it  would  have  been  had  not 
two  of  their  number  fallen  at  the  beginning  of 
the  attack. 

This  running  fire  continued  for  five  miles,  when, 
fortunately  for  the  little  band,  one  of  the  stage- 
stations,  where  a  few  men  had  been  posted  on 
our  officer's  trip  out,  was  reached  at  last.  Here  a 
halt  was  made,  as  the  Indians  congregated  on  a 
bluff  where  they  could  watch  safely.  The  coach 
was  a  wreck.  The  large  lamps  on  either  side  of 
the  driver's  seat  were  shattered  completely,  and 
there  were  six  bullet-holes  between  the  roof  and 
the  wooden  body  of  the  coach.  When  the  door 
of  the  stage  was  opened,  and  the  crouching  wo- 
man lifted  her  face  from  the  floor  and  was  helped 
out,  she  was  so  unmoved,  so  calm,  the  officer  and 
soldiers  were  astonished  at  her  nerve.  She  looked 
about,  and  said,  "  But  I  don't  see  any  Indians  yet." 
The  officer  told  her  that  if  she  would  take  the 
trouble  to  look  over  on  the  bluff,  she  would  find 
them  on  dress  parade.  Then  she  told  him  about 
her  experience  in  the  stage.  The  dying  soldier 
had  breathed  his  last  soon  after  he  fell  into  the 


686  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

coach,  and  all  the  five  miles  his  dead  body  kept 
slipping  from  the  seat  on  to  the  prostrate 
woman.  In  vain  she  pushed  it  one  side  ;  the  vio- 
lence with  which  the  vehicle  rocked  from  side  to 
side,  as  the  driver  urged  his  animals  to  their  ut- 
most speed,  made  it  impossible  for  her  to  protect 
herself  from  contact  with  the  heavy  corpse,  that 
rolled  about  with  the  plunging  of  the  coach.  All 
this,  repeated  without  agitation,  with  no  word  of 
fear  for  the  remaining  portion  of  the  journey, 
which,  happily,  was  safely  finished,  drew  from  our 
officer,  almost  dumb  with  amazement  at  the  forti- 
tude displayed,  a  speech  that  would  rarely  be  set 
down  by  the  novelist  who  imagines  conversations, 
but  which  is  just  what  is  likely  to  be  said  in  real 
life — "  By  Jove,  you  deserve  a  chromo  !  " 

One  troop  of  the  Seventh  Cavalry  was  left  to 
garrison  Fort  Wallace,  while  the  remainder  of  the 
regiment  was  scouting.  The  post  was  then  about 
as '  dreary  as  any  spot  on  earth.  There  were 
no  trees  ;  only  the  arid  plain  surrounded  it,  and 
the  sirocco  winds  drove  the  sands  of  that  deso- 
late desert  into  the  dug-outs  that  served  for  the 
habitation  of  officers  and  men.  The  supplies 
were  of  the  worst  description.  It  was  impossible 
to  get  vegetables  of  any  kind,  and  there  was, 
therefore,  no  preventing  the  soldier's  scourge, 
scurvy,  which  the  heat  aggravated,  inflaming  the 


FRAUDS  IN  THE  RATIONS.  687 

already  burning  flesh.  Even  the  medical  supplies 
were  limited.  None  of  the  posts  at  that  time 
were  provided  with  decent  food — that  is,  none 
beyond  the  railroad.  I  remember  how  much 
troubled  my  husband  was  over  this  subject,  when 
I  joined  him  at  Fort  Hays.  The  bacon  issued  to 
the  soldiers  was  not  only  rancid,  but  was  sup- 
plied by  dishonest  contractors,  who  slipped  in 
any  foreign  substance  they  could,  to  make  the 
weight  come  up  to  the  required  amount  ;  and 
thus  the  soldiers  were  cheated  out  of  the  quantity 
due  them,  as  well  as  imposed  upon  in  the  quality 
of  their  rations.  It  was  the  privilege  of  the  enlist- 
ed men  to  make  their  complaints  to  the  com- 
manding officer,  and  some  of  them  sent  to  ask 
the  General  to  come  to  the  company  street  and 
allow  them  to  prove  to  him  what  frauds  were 
being  practiced.  I  went  with  him,  and  saw  a  flat 
stone,  the  size  of  the  slices  of  bacon  as  they  were 
packed  together,  sandwiched  between  the  layers. 
My  husband  was  justly  incensed,  but  could 
promise  no  immediate  redress.  The  route  of  travel 
was  so  dangerous  that  it  was  necessary  to  detail 
a  larger  number  of  men  to  guard  any  train  of 
supplies  that  attempted  to  reach  those  distant 
posts.  The  soldiers  felt,  and  justly  too,  that  it 
was  an  outrage  that  preparations  for  the  arrival 
of  so  large  a  number  of  troops  had  not  been  per- 


688  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS 

fected  in  the  spring,  before  the  whole  country 
was  in  a  state  of  siege.  The  supplies  provided 
for  the  consumption  of  those  troops  operating  in 
the  field  or  stationed  at  the  posts  had  been  sent 
out  during  the  war.  It  was  then  1867,  and  they 
had  lain  in  the  poor,  ill-protected  adobe  or  dug- 
out storehouse  all  the  intervening  time — more 
than  two  years.  At  Forts  Wallace  and  Hays  there 
were  no  storehouses,  and  the  flour  and  bacon 
were  only  protected  by  tarpaulins.  Both  became 
rancid  and  moldy,  and  were  at  the  mercy  of  the 
rats  and  mice.  A  larger  quantity  of  supplies 
was  forwarded  to  that  portion  of  the  country  the 
last  year  of  the  war  than  was  needed  for  the 
volunteer  troops  sent  out  there,  and  consequently 
our  Seventh  Cavalry,  scouting  day  and  night 
all  through  that  eventful  summer,  were  com- 
pelled to  subsist  on  the  food  already  on  hand. 
It  was  the  most  mistaken  economy  to  persist  in 
issuing  such  rations,  when  it  is  so  well  known  that 
a  well-filled  stomach  is  a  strong  background  for 
a  courageous  heart.  The  desertions  were  unceas- 
ing. The  nearer  the  troops  approached  the  mount- 
ains, the  more  the  men  took  themselves  off  to 
the  mines. 

In  April  of  that  year  no  deaths  had  occurred 
at  Fort  Wallace,  but  by  November  there  were 
sixty  mounds  outside  the  garrison,  covering  the 


DESERTIONS  INCREASING.  689 

brave  hearts  of  soldiers  who  had  either  succumbed 
to  illness  or  been  shot  by  Indians.  It  was  a  fear- 
ful mortality  for  a  garrison  of  fewer  than  two 
hundred  souls.  If  the  soldiers,  hungry  for  fresh 
meat,  went  out  to  shoot  buffalo,  the  half  of  them 
mounted  guard,  to  protect  those  who  literally 
took  their  lives  in  their  hands,  to  provide  a  few 
meals  of  wholesome  food  for  themselves  and  their 
comrades.  At  one  company  post  on  the  South 
Platte,  a  troop  of  our  Seventh  Cavalry  was  sta- 
tioned. In  the  mining  excitement  that  ran  so  high 
in  1866  and  1867,  the  captain  woke  one  morning 
to  find  that  his  first-sergeant  and  forty  out  of  sixty 
men  that  composed  the  garrison,  had  decamped, 
with  horses  and  equipments,  for  the  mines.  This 
left  the  handful  of  men  in  imminent  peril  from 
Indian  assaults.  The  wily  foe  lies  hidden  for  days 
outside  the  garrison,  protected  by  a  heap  of  stones 
or  a  sage-bush,  and  informs  himself,  as  no  other 
spy  on  earth  ever  can,  just  how  many  souls  the 
little  group  of  tents  or  the  quarters  represent.  In 
this  dire  strait  a  dauntless  Sergeant  Andrews 
offered  to  go  in  search  of  the  missing  men.  He 
had  established  his  reputation  as  a  marksman  in 
the  regiment,  and  soldiers  used  to  say  that 
"  such  shooting  as  Andrews  did,  got  the  bulge  on 
everybody."  He  was  seemingly  fearless.  The 
captain  consented  to  his  departure,  but  demurred 


690  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

to  his  going  alone.  The  sergeant  believed  he 
could  only  succeed  if  he  went  into  the  mining- 
camp  unaccompanied,  and  so  the  officer  permitted 
him  to  go.  He  arrested  and  brought  away  nine, 
traveling  two  hundred  miles  with  them  to  Fort 
Wallace.  There  was  no  guard-house  at  the  post, 
and  the  commanding  officer  had  to  exercise  his 
ingenuity  to  secure  these  deserters.  A  large  hole 
was  dug  in  the  middle  of  the  parade-ground  and 
covered  with  logs  and  earth,  leaving  a  square 
aperture  in  the  centre.  The  ladder  by  which  they 
descended  was  removed  by  the  guard  when  all 
were  in,  and  the  Bastile  could  hardly  be  more  se- 
cure than  this  ingenious  prison. 

Two  separate  attacks  were  made  by  three  hun- 
dred Dog-soldiers  (Cheyennes)  to  capture  Fort 
Wallace  that  summer.  During  the  first  fight,  the 
prisoners  in  their  pit  heard  the  firing,  and  knew  that 
all  the  troops  were  outside  the  post  engaged  with 
the  Indians.  Knowing  their  helplessness,  their 
torture  of  mind  can  be  imagined.  If  the  enemy 
succeeded  in  entering  the  garrison,  their  fate  was 
sealed.  The  attacks  were  so  sudden  that  there 
was  no  opportunity  to  release  these  men.  The 
officers  knew  well  enough,  that,  facing  a  common 
foe,  they  might  count  on  unquestionable  unity  of 
action  from  the  deserters.  Some  clemency  was 
to  be  expected  from  a  military  court  that  would 


A  FRANTIC  APPEAL.  69! 

eventually  try  them,  but  all  the  world  knows  the 
savage  cry  is  "  No  quarter."  In  an  attack  on  a 
post,  there  is  only  a  wild  stampede  at  the  sound 
of  the  "  General "  from  the  trumpet.  There  is  a 
rush  for  weapons,  and  every  one  dashes  outside  the 
garrison  to  the  skirmish-line.  In  such  a  race,  every 
soldier  elects  to  be  his  own  captain  till  the  field  is 
reached.  I  have  seen  the  troops  pour  out  of  a 
garrison,  at  an  unexpected  attack,  in  an  incredibly 
short  time.  No  one  stands  upon  the  order  of  his 
going,  or  cares  whose  gun  or  whose  horse  he 
seizes  on  the  way.  Once  the  skirmish-line  is 
formed,  the  soldierly  qualities  assert  themselves, 
and  complete  order  is  resumed.  It  is  only  neces- 
sary to  be  in  the  midst  of  such  excitement,  to 
realize  how  readily  prisoners  out  of  sight  would 
be  forgotten. 

After  the  fight  was  over,  and  the  Indians  were 
driven  off,  the  poor  fellows  sent  to  ask  if  they  could 
speak  with  the  commanding  officer,  and  when  he 
came  to  their  prison  for  the  interview,  they  said, 
"  For  God's  sake,  do  anything  in  future  with  us 
that  you  see  fit — condemn  us  to  any  kind  of  pun- 
ishment, put  balls  and  chains  on  all  of  us — but 
whatever  you  do,  in  case  of  another  attack,  let  us 
out  of  this  hole  and  give  us  a  gun  !"  I  have  known 
a  generous-minded  commanding  officer  to  release 
every  prisoner  in  the  guard-house  and  set  aside 


692  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

their  sentences  forever,  after  they  have  shown 
their  courage  and  presence  of  mind  in  defending 
a  post  from  Indians,  or  other  perils,  such  as  fire 
and  storms. 

The  brave  sergeant  who  had  filled  the  pit  with 
his  captures,  asked  to  follow  a  deserter  who  had 
escaped  to  a  settlement  on  the  Saline  River.  He 
found  the  man,  arrested  him,  and  brought  him 
away  unaided .  When  they  reached  the  railway  at 
Ellsworth,  the  man  made  a  plea  of  hunger,  and 
the  sergeant  took  him  to  an  eating-house.  While 
standing  at  the  counter,  he  took  the  cover  from  a 
red-pepper  box  and,  furtively  watching  his  chance, 
threw  the  contents  into  the  sergeant's  eyes,  com- 
pletely blinding  him.  The  sergeant  was  then  ac- 
counted second  only  to  Wild  Bill  as  a  shot,  and 
not  a  whit  less  cool.  Though  groaning  with 
agony,  he  lost  none  of  his  self-possession.  Listen- 
ing for  the  foot-fall  as  the  deserter  started  for  the 
door,  he  fired  in  the  direction,  and  the  man  fell 
dead. 

Our  regiment  was  now  passing  through  its  worst 
days.  Constant  scouting  over  the  sun-baked, 
cactus-bedded  Plains,  by  men  who  were  as  yet  un- 
acclimated,  and  learning  by  the  severest  lessons  to 
inure  themselves  to  hardships,  made  terrible  havoc 
in  the  ranks.  The  horses,  also  fresh  to  this  sort  of 
service,  grew  gaunt,  and  dragged  their  miserably 


TRYING  TIMES.  693 

fed  bodies  over  the  blistering  trail.  Here  and 
there  along  the  line  a  trooper  walked  beside  his 
beast,  wetting,  when  he  could,  the  flesh  that  was 
raw  from  the  almost  inevitable  sore  that  the 
saddle  causes,  especially  when  the  rider  is  a  novice 
in  horsemanship. 

Insubordination  among  the  men  was  the  certain 
consequence  of  the  half-starved,  discouraged  state 
they  were  in.  One  good  fight  would  have  put 
heart  into  them  to  some  extent,  for  the  hopeless- 
ness of  following  such  a  will-o'-the-wisp  as  the 
Indians  were  that  year,  made  them  think  their 
scouting  did  no  good  and  might  as  well  be  dis- 
continued. Some  of  the  officers  were  poor 
disciplinarians,  either  from  inexperience  or  be- 
cause they  lacked  the  gift  of  control  over  others, 
which  seems  left  out  of  certain  temperaments. 
Alas  !  some  had  no  control  over  themselves  ;  and 
no  one  could  expect  obedience  in  such  a  case.  In 
its  early  days  the  Seventh  Cavalry  was  not  the 
temperate  regiment  it  afterward  became.  Some  of 
the  soldiers  in  the  ranks  had  been  officers  during 
the  war,  and  they  were  learning  the  lesson,  that 
hard  summer,  of  receiving  orders  instead  of  issu- 
ing them.  There  were  a  good  many  men  who 
had  served  in  the  Confederate  army,  and  had  not 
a  ray  of  patriotism  in  enlisting  ;  it  was  merely  a 
question  of  subsistence  to  them  in  their  beggared 


694  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

condition.  There  were  troopers  who  had  entered 
the  service  from  a  romantic  love  of  adventure, 
with  little  idea  of  what  stuff  a  man  must  be  made 
if  he  is  hourly  in  peril,  or,  what  taxes  the  nerve  still 
more,  continually  called  upon  to  endure  privation. 

The  mines  were  evidently  the  great  object  that 
induced  the  soldier  to  enlist  that  year.  The 
Eastern  papers  had  wild  accounts  of  the  enormous 
yield  in  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  free  transporta- 
tion  by  Government  could  be  gained  by  enlisting, 
At  that  time,  when  the  railroad  was  incomplete, 
and  travel  almost  given  up,  on  account  of  danger  ta 
the  stages  ;  when  the  telegraph,  which  now  reaches 
the  destination  of  the  rogue  with  its  warning,  far 
in  advance  of  him,  had  not  even  been  projected 
over  the  Plains — it  was  the  easiest  sort  of  escape 
for  a  man,  for  when  once  he  reached  the  mines  he 
was  lost  for  years,  and  perhaps  died  undis- 
covered. 

Recruits  of  the  kind  sent  to  us  would,  even 
under  favorable  circumstances,  be  difficult  material 
from  which  to  evolve  soldierly  men  ;  and  consid- 
ering their  terrible  hardships,  it  was  no  wonder 
the  regiment  was  nearly  decimated.  In  enlisting, 
the  recruit  rarely  realizes  the  trial  that  awaits  him, 
of  surrendering  his  independence.  We  hear  and 
know  so  much  in  this  country  of  freedom,  that 
even  a  tramp  appreciates  it.  If  a  man  is  reason- 


CONSPIRACIES  AMONG  THE  TROOPS. 

it  Library 

ably  subordinate,  it  is  still  very  hard  to  become 
accustomed  to  the  infinitesimal  observances  that  I 
have  so  often  been  told  are  "  absolutely  necessary 
to  good  order  and  military  discipline."  To  a 
looker-on  like  me,  it  seemed  very  much  like  re- 
ducing men  to  machines.  The  men  made  so 
much  trouble  on  the  campaign — and  we  knew  of  it 
by  the  many  letters  that  came  into  garrison  in  one 
mail,  as  well  as  by  personal  observation,  when  in 
the  regiment — that  I  did  not  find  much  sympathy 
in  my  heart  for  them.  In  one  night,  while  I  was  at 
Fort  Hays,  forty  men  deserted,  and  in  so  bold 
and  deliberate  a  manner,  taking  arms,  ammuni- 
tion, horses  and  quantities  of  food,  that  the  officers 
were  roused  to  action,  for  it  looked  as  if  not 
enough  men  would  be  left  to  protect  the  fort.  A 
conspiracy  was  formed  among  the  men,  by  which 
a  third  of  the  whole  command  planned  to  desert 
at  one  time.  Had  not  their  plotting  been  dis- 
covered, there  would  not  have  been  a  safe  hour 
for  those  who  remained,  as  the  Indians  lay  in  wait 
constantly.  My  husband,  in  writing  of  that 
wholesale  desertion  in  the  early  months  of  the 
regiment's  history,  makes  some  excuse  for  them 
even  under  circumstances  that  would  seem  to 
have  put  all  tribulation  and  patience  out  of  mind. 
After  weary  marches,  the  regiment  found 
itself  nearing  Fort  Wallace  with  a  sense  of 


696  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

relief,  feeling  that  they  might  halt  and  recruit  in 
that  miserable  but  comparatively  safe  post.  They 
were  met  by  the  news  of  the  ravages  of  the 
cholera.  No  time  could  be  worse  for  the  soldiers 
to  encounter  it.  The  long,  trying  campaign,  even 
extending  into  the  Department  of  the  Platte,  had 
fatigued  and  disheartened  the  command.  Ex- 
haustion and  semi-starvation  made  the  men  an 
easy  prey.  The  climate,  though  so  hot  in  sum- 
mer, had  heretofore  been  in  their  favor,  as  the  air 
was  pure,  and,  in  ordinary  weather,  bracing.  But 
with  cholera,  even  the  high  altitude  was  no  pro- 
tection. No  one  could  account  for  the  appear- 
ance of  the  pestilence  ;  never  before  or  since  had 
it  been  known  in  so  elevated  a  part  of  our  country. 
There  were  those  who  attributed  the  scourge  to 
the  upturning  of  the  earth  in  the  building  of  the 
Kansas  Pacific  Railroad  ;  but  the  engineers  had 
not  even  been  able  to  prospect  as  far  as  Wallace, 
on  account  of  the  Indians.  An  infantry  regiment, 
on  its  march  to  New  Mexico,  halted  at  Fort  Wal- 
lace, and  even  in  their  brief  stay  the  men  were 
stricken  down,  and,  with  inefficient  nurses,  no 
comforts,  not  even  wholesome  food,  it  was  a  won- 
der that  there  was  enough  of  the  regiment  left  for 
an  organization.  The  wife  of  one  of  the  officers, 
staying  temporarily  in  a  dug-out,  fell  a  victim, 
and  died  in  the  wretched  underground  habitation 


RA  VA  GES  OF  DISEA  SE.  69  J 

in  which  an  Eastern  farmer  would  refuse  to  shel- 
ter his  stock. 

It  was  a  hard  fate  for  our  Seventh  Cavalry  men. 
Their  camp,  outside  the  garrison,  had  no  protec- 
tion from  the  remorseless  sun,  and  the  poor  fel- 
lows rolled  on  the  hot  earth  in  their  small  tents, 
without  a  cup  of  cold  water  or  a  morsel  of  decent 
food.  The  surgeons  fought  day  and  night  to  stay 
the  spread  of  the  disease,  but  everything  was 
against  them.  The  exhausted  soldiers,  disheart- 
ened by  long,  hard,  unsuccessful  marching,  had 
little  desire  to  live  when  once  seized  with  the 
awful  disease. 

With  the  celerity  with  which  evil  news  travels, 
much  of  what  I  have  written  came  back  to  us. 
Though  the  mails  were  so  uncertain,  and  travel 
was  almost  discontinued,  still  the  story  of  the  ill- 
ness and  desperate  condition  of  our  regiment 
reached  us,  and  many  a  garbled  and  exaggerated 
tale  came  with  the  true  ones.  Day  after  day  I 
sat  on  the  gallery  of  the  quarters  in  which  we 
were  temporarily  established,  watching  for  the 
first  sign  of  the  cavalryman  who  brought  our 
mail.  Doubtless  he  thought  himself  a  winged 
Mercury.  In  reality,  no  snail  ever  crept  so  slowly. 
When  he  began  his  walk  toward  me,  measuring 
his  regulation  steps  with  military  precision,  a 
world  of  fretful  impatience  possessed  me.  I 


698  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

-vished  with  all  my  soul  I  was,  for  the  moment, 
any  one  but  the  wife  of  his  commanding  officer, 
that  I  might  pick  up  my  skirts  and  fly  over  the 
grass,  and  snatch  the  parcel  from  his  hand. 
When  he  finally  reached  the  gallery,  and  swung- 
himself  into  position  to  salute,  my  heart  thumped 
like  the  infantry  drum.  Day  after  day  came  the 
same  pompous,  maddening  words  :  "  I  have  the 
honor  to  report  there  are  no  letters  for  Mrs.  Major- 
General  George  Armstrong  Ouster."  Not  caring- 
at  last  whether  the  man  saw  the  flush  of  disap- 
pointment, the  choking  breath,  and  the  rising 
tears,  I  fled  in  the  midst  of  his  slow  announce- 
ment, to  plunge  my  wretched  head  into  my  pillow, 
hoping  the  sound  of  the  sobs  would  not  reach 
Eliza,  who  was  generally  hovering  near  to  pro- 
pose something  that  would  comfort  me  in  my  dis- 
appointment. 

She  knew  work  was  my  panacea,  and  made  an 
injured  mouth  over  the  rent  in  her  apron,  which, 
in  her  desires  to  keep  me  occupied,  she  was  not 
above  tearing  on  purpose.  With  complaining 
tones  she  said,  "Miss  Libbie,  aint  you  goin'  to  do 
no  sewin'  for  me  at  all  ?  Tears  like  every  darkey 
in  garrison  has  mo'  does  than  I  has" — forgetting 
in  her  zeal,  the  abbreviation  of  her  words,  about 
which  her  "  ole  miss"  had  warned  her.  Sewing, 
reading,  painting,  any  occupation  that  had  be- 


A  SUNSHINY  DAY. 


699 


gulled  the  hours,  lost  its  power  as  those  letterless 
days  came  and  went.  I  was  even  afraid  to  show 
my  face  at  the  door  when  the  mail-man  was  due, 
for  I  began  to  despair  about  hearing  at  all.  After 
days  of  such  gloom,  my  leaden  heart  one  morning 
quickened  its  beats  at  an  unusual  sound — the  clank 
of  a  sabre  on  our  gallery  and  with  it  the  quick, 
springing  steps  of  feet,  unlike  the  quiet  infantry 
around  us.  The  door,  behind  which  I  paced  un- 
easily, opened,  and  with  a  flood  of  sunshine  that 
poured  in,  came  a  vision  far  brighter  than  even  the 
brilliant  Kansas  sun.  There  before  me,  blithe  and 
buoyant,  stood  my  husband  !  In  an  instant,  every 
moment  of  the  preceding  months  was  obliterated. 
What  had  I  to  ask  more  ?  What  did  earth  hold 
for  us  greater  than  what  we  then  had  ?  The  Gen- 
eral, as  usual  when  happy  and  excited,  talked  so 
rapidly  that  the  words  jumbled  themselves  into 
hopeless  tangles,  but  my  ears  were  keen  enough 
to  extract  from  the  medley  the  fact  that  I  was  to 
return  at  once  with  him. 

Eliza,  half  crying,  scolding  as  she  did  when 
overjoyed,  vibrated  between  kitchen  and  parlor, 
and  finally  fell  to  cooking,  as  a  safety-valve 
for  her  overcharged  spirits.  The  General  ordered 
everything  she  had  in  the  house,  determined, 
for  once  in  that  summer  of  deprivations,  to  have, 
as  the  soldiers  term  it,  one  "good,  square  meal." 


yoO  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

After  a  time,  when  my  reason  was  again 
enthroned,  I  began  to  ask  what  good  fortune  had 
brought  him  to  me.  It  seems  that  my  husband, 
after  reaching  Fort  Wallace,  was  overwhelmed 
with  the  discouragements  that  met  him.  His 
men  dying  about  him,  without  his  being  able  to 
afford  them  relief,  was  something  impossible  for 
him  to  face  without  a  struggle  for  their  assistance. 
A  greater  danger  than  all  was  yet  to  be  encoun- 
tered, if  the  right  measures  were  not  taken  im- 
mediately. Even  the  wretched  food  was  better 
than  starvation,  and  so  much  of  that  had  been 
•destroyed,  with  the  hope  of  the  arrival  of  better, 
that  there  was  not  enough  left  to  ration  the  men, 
and  unless  more  came  they  wrould  starve,  as  they 
were  out  then  two  hundred  miles  from  the  rail- 
road. If  a  scout  was  sent,  his  progress  was  so 
slow,  hiding  all  day  and  traveling  only  by  night, 
it  would  take  so  long  that  there  might  be  men 
dying  from  hunger  as  well  as  cholera,  before  he 
could  return  with  aid.  And,  besides  this  scarcity 
of  food,  the  medical  supplies  were  insufficient. 
The  General,  prompt  always  in  action,  suddenly 
determined  to  relieve  the  beleaguered  place  by  go- 
ing himself  for  medicines  and  rations.  He  took 
a  hundred  men  to  guard  the  wagons  that  would 
bring  relief  to  the  suffering,  and  in  fifty-five  hours 
they  were  at  Fort  Hays,  one  hundred  and  fifty 


A   TERRIBLE  JOURNEY.  70 1 

miles  distant.  It  was  a  terrible  journey.  He 
afterward  made  a  march  of  eighty  miles  in 
seventeen  hours,  without  the  horses  showing 
themselves  fagged  ;  and  during  the  -war  he  had 
marched  a  portion  of  his  Division  of  cavalry, 
accompanied  by  horse  artillery,  ninety  miles  in 
twenty-four  hours. 

My  husband,  finding  I  had  been  sent  away  from 
Fort  Hays,  and  believing  me  to  be  at  Fort  Harker, 
a  victim  of  cholera,  determined  to  push  on  there 
at  night,  leaving  the  train  for  supplies  to  travel 
the  distance  next  day.  Colonel  Custer  and 
Colonel  Cook  accompanied  him.  They  found 
the  garrison  in  the  deepest  misery,  the  cholera 
raging  at  its  worst,  the  gloom  and  hopelessness 
appalling.  My  husband  left  the  two  officers  to 
load  the  wagons,  and,  fortunately,  as  the  railroad 
had  reached  Fort  Harker,  the  medical  and  com- 
missary supplies  were  abundant.  It  took  but  a 
few  hours  to  reach  Fort  Riley, 

He  knew  from  former  experience  that  I  would 
require  but  a  short  time  to  get  ready — indeed,  my 
letters  were  full  of  assurances  that  I  lived  from 
hour  to  hour  with  the  one  hope  that  I  might  join 
him,  and  these  letters  had  met  him  at  Forts  Hays 
and  Harker.  He  knew  well  that  nothing  we  might 
encounter  could  equal  the  desolation  and  suspense 
of  the  days  that  I  was  enduring  at  Fort  Riley. 


702  TENTING  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

My  little  valise  was  filled  long-  before  it  was 
necessary  for  us  to  take  the  return  train  that  even- 
ing. With  the  joy,  the  relief,  the  gratitude,  of 
knowing  that  God  had  spared  my  husband 
through  an  Indian  campaign,  and  averted  from 
him  the  cholera;  and,  now  that  I  was  to  be 
given  reprieve  from  days  of  anxiety,  and  nights 
of  hideous  dreams  of  what  might  befall  him,  and 
that  I  would  be  taken  back  to  camp — could  more 
be  crowded  into  one  day  ?  Was  there  room  for  a 
thought,  save  one  of  devout  thankfulness,  and 
such  happiness  as  I  find  no  words  to  describe  ? 

There  was  in  that  summer  of  1867  one  long, 
perfect  day.  It  was  mine,  and — blessed  be  our 
memory,  which  preserves  to  us  the  joys  as  well 
as  the  sadness  of  life ! — it  is  still  mine,  for  time 
and  for  eternity. 

END. 


